SMEs and Climate Finance: A Hybrid Review

ABSTRACT The growing importance of sustainability and environmental practices, along with a recent surge in related research, motivated this review of environmental management and climate finance within the SME sector. Starting with an initial sample of 2063 articles, we refined the dataset, resulting in a final sample of 124 key publications. Using a hybrid approach that combines bibliometric and content analysis, we identify the leading authors, countries, institutions, and influential articles shaping this field. Our analysis reveals four major research streams: (1) sustainability, environmental practices, and climate change; (2) climate finance and SME performance; (3) financing cleantech in SMEs; and (4) environmental practices in family firms. Finally, we provide recommendations and outline future research directions to further advance the field.