Evolution of Sustainable Finance and the Ontological Imperatives for an Afrocentric Model

From its inception, sustainable finance (SF) has accommodated a variety of practices that reflect the doctrinal interpretations and ethos of different groups. It was originally driven by efforts to replicate religious tenets in banking and business conduct developed in the 16th century. Starting in 1980, state and institutional involvement in articulating the principles and dimensions of business sustainability, codifying corporate social responsibility (CSR) requirements, and nurturing sustainability-oriented alliances have helped foster the emergence and deployment of universal SF models. This paper explains how the expansion of the globalized, uniform SF market rooted in the dominant Western perspective has negated the ontological views of sustainability in other places that conceive responsibility differently, enabling powerful global corporates to promote SF models that are not relevant in developing societies. The paper recommends adopting a more pragmatic SF approach that recognises the pluriverse of the essence of sustainability across cultures and accommodates diverse meanings of responsibility. Accordingly, it recommends that Africa and other emerging societies develop and/or adapt balanced SF models that align with their cultural sense of responsibility and that could promote the optimal use of their resource endowments to support their developmental aspirations Journal of Contemporary Issues in African Trade and Trade Finance, 9(1), 64-87