The role of renewable energy, sustainable energy and green finance in achieving sustainable development goals

This study aimed at mapping the intellectual and conceptual structures at the intersection of green finance, renewable and sustainable energy, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Therefore, a bibliometric analysis was conducted on 457 English-language documents indexed in Scopus (2010–2025), comprising peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, conference papers, review articles, short surveys, conference reviews, and retracted publications, screened under PRISMA 2020 guidelines with explicit eligibility criteria applied at each stage of record selection. Records were retrieved through a comprehensive search strategy with systematic truncation and lexical variants, screened under PRISMA 2020 guidelines, and pre-processed through keyword normalization using custom thesaurus files and removal of duplications. The final corpus was analyzed by implying Bibliometrix/Biblioshiny for descriptive indicators and mapping, and VOSviewer for keyword co-occurrence and network visualization. Strategic thematic mapping identified three main research communities: (i) sustainable development and renewable energy implementation supported by green and sustainable finance; (ii) macro-level sustainability, alternative energy sources, and financial systems; and (iii) the green economy and green development linked to energy transition and the SDGs. Two motor themes centered on the relationship between economic growth and carbon outcomes, and on the integration of sustainability, green finance, and alternative energy constitute the central, well-developed core of the field. Topics explicitly connecting SDG implementation strategies, green economy policies, and the distributive dimensions of green finance remain nascent. The analysis reveals geographic concentration in Asian economies, particularly China, with Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and South/Southeast Asia substantially under-represented in the scholarly record. Thematic gaps, including social equity, climate justice, greenwashing, and green innovation, are identified as priorities for future empirical research. These findings are based on bibliographic metadata and describe scholarly publication patterns; they do not test causal mechanisms or evaluate specific policy outcomes.