Developing Islamic-sustainable and responsible investment (i-SRI) criteria based on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) concept

Abstract

Purpose The practices of sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) among Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) nowadays still rely on the existing environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. However, based on observation, some of the existing criteria listed by the reports of certain authorities and organizations do not seem to be aligned with Shariah principles. Therefore, this study aims to investigate those criteria to help develop Islamic-SRI (i-SRI) criteria based on the ESG concept. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted the qualitative method via content analysis of documents and interviews with experts. Findings Based on the analysis, a set of i-SRI criteria is developed based on the ESG concept, of which 33 elements are environmental, 50 elements are social and 26 elements are governance issues. Overall, this study finds that there is no obvious contradiction with the Islamic philosophy in the existing ESG criteria, with the exception of four criteria, i.e. promoting human rights, freedom of expression, freedom of censorship and freedom of association under social criteria. These four existing criteria are not aligned with Islamic teaching and not appropriate with Islamic ESG criteria. Practical implications The creation of Islamic ESG criteria can assist relevant authorities to improve the current ESG criteria and to embed an Islamic perspective within it. Originality/value This study developed a set of i-SRI criteria, which may be suitable as a source of reference to relevant parties.