Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the editorial team of Risks (MDPI), I am pleased to invite you to contribute to a forthcoming Special Issue entitled “ESG and Business Risks.”

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations have rapidly evolved from voluntary corporate responsibility initiatives to core determinants of business strategy, financial performance, and risk exposure. Regulators, investors, rating agencies, and other stakeholders increasingly demand transparent ESG disclosure and robust risk management frameworks aligned with sustainability objectives. At the same time, firms face growing uncertainties related to climate change, social inequality, geopolitical instability, technological disruption, and evolving governance standards.

These developments raise important questions about how ESG factors reshape traditional risk categories—financial, operational, strategic, reputational, and systemic risks—and how organizations, markets, and regulators respond. The integration of ESG into risk assessment models, capital allocation, enterprise risk management (ERM), and regulatory supervision represents a critical frontier for both scholars and practitioners.

This Special Issue aims to advance rigorous academic debate and provide fresh theoretical, empirical, and methodological insights into the complex interplay between ESG and business risks. We welcome high-quality submissions employing diverse methodologies and perspectives on topics that address (but are not limited to) the following themes:

• ESG and Financial Risk (e.g., idiosyncratic, systematic, default, credit risk, etc.)
• ESG and Enterprise, Operational and Climate Risks (including ERM, physical, transition, biodiversity, supply chain, risks and operational resilience)
• ESG and Governance and Strategic/Reputational Risk (e.g., ESG failures and reputational risks)
• ESG Disclosure, Reporting, Regulation and Financial Risk (e.g., green washing risk and detection methods)
• Insurance, and ESG/Climate Risk Transfer, and Risk Mitigation (e.g., role of insurance in managing Climate and ESG risks)
• Market and Systemic Perspectives on ESG and Risk (e.g., ESG shocks and market contagion)
• Innovation and Emerging Issues (e.g., AI and ESG risk, Cyber risk and ESG)

We particularly encourage interdisciplinary contributions and studies offering novel datasets, innovative methodologies, or policy-relevant insights.

Dr. Amama Shaukat
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Risks is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI’s English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords
environmental, social, and governance (ESG)
ESG risk assessment
corporate sustainability and risk
climate change risk
sustainable finance and investment
ESG disclosure and reporting
systemic risk and financial stability
enterprise risk management (ERM)
climate transition risk
physical climate risk
green finance
sustainable banking
reputational risk
responsible investment
climate stress testing
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Published Papers
This special issue is now open for submission.