ISLAMIC GREEN FINANCE AND THE SDGS: MAQASID-BASED APPROACHES TO GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
Article Sidebar
-
Islamic Green Finance, Maqasid al-Shari’ah, Sustainable Development Goals
Abstract
In the face of the global environmental crisis from climate change to ecosystem degradation and widening sustainability gaps there is a growing need for financial paradigms that are ethical, inclusive, and effective. This article examines how Islamic green finance can play a significant role in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through frameworks grounded in Maq??id al?Shar??ah (the higher objectives of Islamic law). First, it outlines the conceptual foundations of Maq??id al-Shar??ah including the preservation of religion (?ifz al-d?n), life (?ifz al-nafs), intellect (?ifz al-?aql), lineage (?ifz al-nasl) and wealth (?ifz al-m?l) and explores how environmental stewardship (?ifz al-bi?ah) is increasingly being incorporated in contemporary scholarship. Next, the article maps how Islamic green finance instruments (such as green sukuk, waqf for environmental endowments, zakat for sustainability projects) align with both Maq??id and the SDGs. It presents a framework in which Islamic finance goes beyond mere compliance and becomes a strategic tool for supporting sustainable energy, resilient infrastructure, cities and communities, and the protection of land and marine ecosystems. Empirical evidence and case studies (for instance from Indonesia and the Gulf region) show that while the potential is considerable, implementation faces significant challenges: regulatory fragmentation, lack of standardized frameworks, limited market awareness, and difficulties in measuring impact.
Full text article
References
Ahlfeldt, G. M. (2022). The economics of skyscrapers: A synthesis. Journal of Urban Economics, 129(Query date: 2025-11-03 02:30:16). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2021.103419
Alesina, A. (2024). The Political Effects of Immigration: Culture or Economics? Journal of Economic Literature, 62(1), 5–46. https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.20221643
Backhouse, R. E. (2023). The Ordinary Business of Life: A History of Economics from the Ancient World to the Twenty-First Century: New Edition. In Ordinary Business of Life A History of Economics from the Ancient World to the Twenty First Century New Edition (p. 486). https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85197027442&origin=inward
Balboni, C. (2023). The Economics of Tropical Deforestation. Annual Review of Economics, 15(Query date: 2025-11-03 02:30:16), 723–754. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-090622-024705
Bayham, J. (2022). The Economics of Wildfire in the United States. Annual Review of Resource Economics, 14(Query date: 2025-11-03 02:30:16), 379–401. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-111920-014804
Bergemann, D. (2022). The economics of social data. RAND Journal of Economics, 53(2), 263–296. https://doi.org/10.1111/1756-2171.12407
Besley, T. (2023). The Political Economics of Green Transitions. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 138(3), 1863–1906. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjad006
Buiten, M. (2023). The law and economics of AI liability. Computer Law and Security Review, 48(Query date: 2025-11-03 02:30:16). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clsr.2023.105794
Castorena, M. (2022). Toward a general theory of plant carbon economics. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 37(10), 829–837. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2022.05.007
Crouzet, N. (2022). The Economics of Intangible Capital. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 36(3), 29–52. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.36.3.29
DeCicca, P. (2022). The Economics of Tobacco Regulation: A Comprehensive Review†. Journal of Economic Literature, 60(3), 883–970. https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.20201482
Donmez, A. (2022). Transaction fee economics in the Ethereum blockchain. Economic Inquiry, 60(1), 265–292. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.13025
Egerer, J. (2023). The economics of global green ammonia trade – “Shipping Australian wind and sunshine to Germany.” Applied Energy, 334(Query date: 2025-11-03 02:30:16). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.120662
Filha, N. T. de S. (2022). The economics of healthcare access: A scoping review on the economic impact of healthcare access for vulnerable urban populations in low- and middle-income countries. International Journal for Equity in Health, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-022-01804-3
Gorman, W. (2022). The quest to quantify the value of lost load: A critical review of the economics of power outages. Electricity Journal, 35(8). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2022.107187
Heldstab, S. A. (2022). The economics of brain size evolution in vertebrates. Current Biology, 32(12). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.096
Jedwab, R. (2022). The economics of missionary expansion: Evidence from Africa and implications for development. Journal of Economic Growth, 27(2), 149–192. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10887-022-09202-8
Jia, N. (2023). The Economics of Internal Migration: Advances and Policy Questions. Journal of Economic Literature, 61(1), 144–180. https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.20211623
Juhász, R. (2024). The New Economics of Industrial Policy. Annual Review of Economics, 16(1), 213–242. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-081023-024638
Khan, M. I. (2024). The economics of concentrating solar power (CSP): Assessing cost competitiveness and deployment potential. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 200(Query date: 2025-11-03 02:30:16). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2024.114551
Kshetri, N. (2023). The Economics of the Industrial Metaverse. IT Professional, 25(1), 84–88. https://doi.org/10.1109/MITP.2023.3236494
Lau, P. (2022). The Economics of the Greenium: How Much is the World Willing to Pay to Save the Earth? Environmental and Resource Economics, 81(2), 379–408. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-021-00630-5
Li, J. (2023). Thermodynamics, flexibility and techno-economics assessment of a novel integration of coal-fired combined heating and power generation unit and compressed air energy storage. Applied Energy, 339(Query date: 2025-11-03 02:30:16). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.120924
Marques, A. P. (2022). The economics of vision impairment and its leading causes: A systematic review. Eclinicalmedicine, 46(Query date: 2025-11-03 02:30:16). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2022.101354
Masters, W. A. (2022). The economics of malnutrition: Dietary transition and food system transformation. Handbook of Agricultural Economics, 6(Query date: 2025-11-03 02:30:16), 4997–5083. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.hesagr.2022.03.006
Miguel, E. (2022). The Economics of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Poor Countries. Annual Review of Economics, 14(Query date: 2025-11-03 02:30:16), 253–285. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-051520-025412
Patel, M. (2022). The techno-economics potential of hydrogen interconnectors for electrical energy transmission and storage. Journal of Cleaner Production, 335(Query date: 2025-11-03 02:30:16). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.130045
Rapson, D. S. (2023). The Economics of Electric Vehicles. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 17(2), 274–294. https://doi.org/10.1086/725484
Rathnayaka, I. W. (2023). The economics of COVID-19: A systematic literature review. Journal of Economic Studies, 50(1), 49–72. https://doi.org/10.1108/JES-05-2022-0257
Rossi, G. D. (2023). The Economics of Nutrient Pollution from Agriculture. Annual Review of Resource Economics, 15(Query date: 2025-11-03 02:30:16), 105–130. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-111820-021317
Shu, D. Y. (2023). The role of carbon capture and storage to achieve net-zero energy systems: Trade-offs between economics and the environment. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 178(Query date: 2025-11-03 02:30:16). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2023.113246
Stern, N. (2022). The economics of immense risk, urgent action and radical change: Towards new approaches to the economics of climate change. Journal of Economic Methodology, 29(3), 181–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350178X.2022.2040740
Wesseler, J. (2022). The EU’s farm-to-fork strategy: An assessment from the perspective of agricultural economics. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 44(4), 1826–1843. https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13239
Authors
Copyright (c) 2026 Ari Purwanti, Ammar Al-Momani, Shahram Rahimov
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
