SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Sustain.
Sec. Sustainable Organizations
This article is part of the Research TopicAI-driven Multidimensional Approaches for ESG-oriented Urban Regeneration and Real Estate ValuationView all articles
ESG Performance in the Regulatory Transformation Era: A Systematic Thematic Review (2020-2024)
Provisionally accepted
Jiyeon Kim1*
Wooyoung Yang2- 1University of South Carolina, Columbia, United States
- 2Kunsan National University, Gunsan-si, Republic of Korea
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The period from 2020 to 2024 represents a regulatory transformation era in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) research, marked by mandatory disclosure frameworks including the CSRD and its implementing standards (ESRS). This systematic thematic review synthesizes ESG-performance literature from this transformation period, examining how regulatory shifts have influenced empirical findings, measurement approaches, and practical implementation. Through analysis of literature spanning major regulatory jurisdictions, we identify four key transformation dimensions: standardization progress through mandatory disclosure, cross-border harmonization challenges, measurement divergence resolution, and sector-specific adaptation patterns. The review reveals mixed ESG-performance relationships under mandatory disclosure regimes, with positive effects more pronounced in carbon-intensive sectors and European contexts with established regulatory frameworks. Our findings contribute to Dynamic Materiality Theory by demonstrating how regulatory mandates alter stakeholder salience and performance relationships. The systematic thematic analysis provides actionable insights for regulators coordinating global taxonomy alignment, firms preparing for enhanced disclosure requirements, and investors adapting screening models for disclosure-driven market dynamics.
Keywords: ESG performance, Regulatory, Mandatory disclosure, CSRD, ESRS, Sustainability reporting, Double materiality
Received: 08 Aug 2025; Accepted: 25 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kim and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jiyeon Kim
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