A Compendium of Research on ESG and Research Outlook - Visualisation and Analysis Based on CiteSpace Software

Against the backdrop of global climate change and the increasing challenges of social governance, ESG, as a key framework for promoting sustainable development and corporate responsibility, has become increasingly important. In this paper, we use CiteSpace software to visualise and analyse ESG-related core literature from CNKI and Web of Science databases in English and Chinese, and compare and contrast the development process, research hotspots, and evolutionary trends of ESG in China and other countries. The study finds that: Chinese ESG research started late, the number of published articles is relatively small, institutional cooperation is scattered, and research hotspots focus on financial aspects such as "financing constraints" and "corporate governance"; whereas foreign research is more mature, and the hotspots are more inclined to "social responsibility" and "corporate governance". On the other hand, foreign studies are more mature, and the hotspots are more in favour of "social responsibility", "sustainable development performance", and "environmental performance". Future research on corporate ESG performance can be carried out by enriching basic theories, expanding research dimensions, and improving the evaluation index system to provide further theoretical support for the sustainable development of enterprises and society.