Environmental Responsibility in Saudi Banking: A Stakeholder Analysis of Green Finance Adoption

ABSTRACT Green finance adoption in state‐directed emerging markets remains poorly understood among stakeholder groups. This study examines how environmental responsibility and green finance are interpreted, implemented, and governed in Saudi banking. Based on 25 semi‐structured interviews across nine stakeholder categories, reflexive thematic analysis identified five themes. Stakeholders agreed that banks' environmental responsibility extends beyond operations to capital allocation, but evaluated the credibility of green finance differently depending on institutional role. National policy was perceived to legitimise organisational attention more directly within banks than among SMEs. Weak measurement architecture emerged as a credibility‐risk pathway rather than evidence of intentional greenwashing. Organisational participants described resistance as mainly practical, although commercial tensions remained. Shari'ah governance was viewed as a conditional accountability resource when linked to technical verification and substantive oversight. The study offers a bounded, multi‐stakeholder explanation of green finance adoption. Regulators should strengthen proportionate market capacity; supervisors should test governance and evidential support; and standard setters should improve definitions, KPIs, comparability, and assurance.