Leadership in Leveraging Carbon Finance to Empower Green Startups and Drive Sustainable Entrepreneurship

This conceptual paper explores how leadership enables green startups to effectively leverage carbon finance mechanisms and advance sustainable entrepreneurship. Anchored in illustrative case analysis, the study identifies key leadership behaviors that facilitate engagement with emissions trading systems, carbon credit markets, and green bond financing. By examining how leadership influences organizational strategy, resource acquisition, and external positioning, the paper highlights the pivotal role of leadership in overcoming institutional and financial barriers to low-carbon innovation. The resulting propositions offer a foundation for future empirical research and contribute to the broader understanding of leadership's role in shaping entrepreneurial outcomes within emerging sustainability-oriented financial ecosystems.