Systematic Literature Review on Integration of Malaysia's Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Initiative towards Global Framework

Abstract

The growing emphasis on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosures has exposed a critical challenge: the lack of a standardized framework, particularly in emerging markets like Malaysia, leads to inconsistent reporting and impedes economic decision-making. This study conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) of 12 contemporary articles from accounting journals to analyze prevailing ESG frameworks and identify pathways toward standardization. Our analysis, focusing on articles published up to 2025, synthesizes key ESG metrics environmental (carbon, energy, waste), social (diversity, labor, community), and governance (transparency, leadership, risk) and evaluates prevalent research methodologies. The findings reveal significant variations in disclosure practices and a consensus in the literature on the need for harmonized indicators, validated weighting schemes, and industry-specific metrics. The study concludes by identifying critical research gaps in the Malaysian context and emphasizes the necessity for global, multidisciplinary collaboration to enhance comparability, ensure financial materiality, and ultimately bolster investor confidence in the capital markets.