1 Introduction -- 2 Optimality of Sustainable Investing Strategies -- 3 Effects of ESG Performance on Credit Spreads in Japan -- 4 Credit Default Swaps and Corporate Carbon Emissions in Japan -- 5 Green House Gas Emission and Bank Lending in Japan -- 6 The contribution of migrant inventors to environmental innovation in the Asia-Pacific region -- 7 The links between environmental innovation and environmental performance.

This book focuses on environmental technology and financial markets of the Asia-Pacific region, which includes traditional and emerging innovative countries such as Japan, China, and South Korea. The research and its outcomes presented here are devoted to the nexus between innovation in environment-related technologies, finance, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. A promising means of achieving a sustainable society is to accelerate innovation in environmental technologies. Chapters of this book tackle some important issues. Using the data on environmental innovation creation and financial markets, the contributors identify three scopes in which ESG performance forms how investors evaluate corporate performance against climate-related risk in the Asia-Pacific capital markets (e.g., corporate bond and credit default swaps); how lenders allocate their credits according to carbon emissions in Japan; and what determines environmental technology creation and how it affects environmental improvement at a country-level. This book thus provides insights into the nexus between innovation in environment-related technologies, finance, and ESG.