Sustainability has become a key focus in global investment, including venture capital (VC), driven by climate concerns, technological progress, and social pressure. VC offers advantages such as flexibility, access to technology, and strategic support, making it important for funding sustainability-oriented startups ( Kato & Chiloane-Tsoka, 2024). As a result, VC investors increasingly adopt ESG principles, directing capital toward renewable energy and socially responsible ventures ( Liu et al., 2024), which can improve both financial performance and long-term stakeholder value ( Egurla et al., 2022).

This trend is also evident in Corporate Venture Capital (CVC), where many firms use CVC to support sustainability initiatives, leading to improved environmental and social performance ( Battisti et al., 2022). Beyond large firms, VC also strengthens SME sustainability by promoting growth, innovation, and resilience. Empirical studies show that VC funding enhances ESG performance and ratings, particularly for firms already engaged in sustainable practices ( Kato, 2024) Empirical studies show that VC funding enhances ESG performance and ratings, particularly for firms already engaged in sustainable practices ( Cao et al., 2024; Drobetz et al., 2024). However, challenges persist due to the lack of standardized frameworks and limited resources for implementation ( Lange & Banadaki, 2024).

The growing role of VC in supporting sustainability-oriented enterprises contributes directly to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those related to inclusive and sustainable economic growth ( Gucciardi, 2024). Despite this progress, the literature on VC and sustainability remains fragmented across multiple disciplines such as business, management, development economics, and environmental studies ( Cumming et al., 2023). This fragmentation hinders a comprehensive understanding of the strategic role of VC in advancing global sustainability. Therefore, a systematic analytical approach is needed to map research development, identify publication trends, and reveal conceptual linkages between VC and sustainability.

A bibliometric approach is particularly relevant in this context, as it offers a quantitative and systematic overview of the research field ( Sachan et al., 2025; Ellili, 2024). Bibliometric analysis allows the identification of key topics, publication trends, citation structures, productive contributors, and international collaborations ( Ali et al., 2025). It provides a robust foundation for scholars and practitioners to gain a more objective and comprehensive understanding of research dynamics and investment directions aligned with sustainability goals ( Kumar et al., 2024).

Previous bibliometric studies on VC have mainly focused on general or thematic aspects—such as government VC ( Ariffin & Muhammad, 2023), private equity ( Cumming et al., 2023), green innovation, and ESG issues ( De Silva et al., 2024)—without addressing sustainability as a comprehensive construct. In contrast, VC and sustainability represent a broader and more strategic intersection that integrates the three ESG pillars. VC functions not only as a financing mechanism for green innovation but also as a catalyst for systemic transformation encompassing business ethics, social inclusion, and corporate accountability ( Gucciardi, 2024).

Based on these considerations, this study aims to map the development of venture capital literature in the context of sustainability using a bibliometric approach. The analysis identifies publication trends, collaboration networks, key research themes, and research gaps. Specifically, this study addresses the following research questions:

RQ1: What are the publication and citation growth trends related to Venture Capital and sustainability?

RQ2: Which countries and journals contribute the most to academic publications on Venture Capital and sustainability?

RQ3: Who are the most productive and influential authors in this field based on the number of publications and citations?

RQ4: What are the patterns of international collaboration among countries in research on Venture Capital and sustainability?

RQ5: What are the main research themes and emerging topics in the literature on Venture Capital and sustainability based on keyword analysis and bibliometric visualizations?

The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. Section 2 presents the research methods. Section 3 discusses the bibliometric results and analysis, including publication trends, collaboration networks, and thematic evolution. Section 4 concludes the paper by summarizing key findings and providing recommendations for future research and policy development.

The study employs a mixed-methods bibliometric analysis, a hybrid research methodology that combines quantitative and qualitative techniques to provide an in-depth perspective on the research landscape for any given topic ( Donthu et al., 2021). Software such as VOSviewer and RStudio has been used during this research to emphasize certain trends. The information for the current report was collected through using the Scopus database from January 1, 2002, until May 4, 2025. Scopus was selected because it is the largest abstract and indexing citation database, offering broader global and regional coverage. The quality of the data is ensured through careful content selection, regular review by an independent board, and an ongoing system for quality assurance ( Baas et al., 2020).

The main keywords in this research are “Venture Capital” and “Sustainability”. The selection of the keyword “Venture Capital” refers to the study by Bosio et al. (2024); Cumming et al. (2023) to ensure the suitability and relevance of the topic, which was then combined with the keyword “Sustainability” as recommended by De Silva et al. (2024). Article searches were conducted using the “Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews” (SPAR-4-SLR) approach adopted from Paul et al. (2021). SPAR-4-SLR offers rigorous and comprehensive systematic guidance in literature review, covering the “what,” “why,” “when,” “where,” “who,” and “how” aspects, and aids structured and accountable decision making with generally higher compliance rates compared to the PRISMA approach ( Innocenti et al., 2022; Paul et al., 2021).

The initial screening process yielded 176 documents. Subsequently, the dataset was refined based on subject areas, including Business, Management and Accounting; Economics, Econometrics and Finance; Social Sciences; Environmental Science; Engineering; Computer Science; and Energy, resulting in 162 documents. Further selection based on document type, focusing on articles and conference papers, reduced the sample to 113 documents. After limiting the language to English, 110 papers remained. Finally, restricting the dataset to publications in journals and conference proceedings resulted in a final sample of 105 documents. This screening and selection procedure adopts the SPAR-4 SLR framework and utilizes Scopus raw data as outlined in ( Kurniawati et al., 2026).

This study offers new insights into how venture capital contributes to sustainable finance transitions by providing a comprehensive mapping of the global research landscape through a mixed-methods bibliometric approach. The findings reveal that international collaboration particularly among China, the United States, and the United Kingdom acts as a crucial driver of sustainable innovation and knowledge diffusion within the venture capital ecosystem. Three main thematic clusters were identified, reflecting the intellectual evolution of this field: the theoretical development of venture capital and investment behavior, the formulation of long-term economic and policy frameworks that support sustainable finance, and the role of venture capital in advancing green entrepreneurship and sustainable technological innovation. Collectively, these clusters demonstrate how venture capital aligns financial objectives with environmental and social goals, contributing to the broader sustainability transition.

The results have important implications for both policy and practice. Policymakers are encouraged to integrate the findings into global sustainability frameworks, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the European Green Deal, by designing fiscal and regulatory instruments that foster ESG-oriented venture financing and cross-border green innovation. Venture capital firms should adopt transparent sustainability metrics and data-driven evaluation systems to improve accountability and investment impact. Investors may leverage insights from bibliometric trends to identify emerging markets and technologies with strong sustainability potential. Research institutions, in turn, can promote interdisciplinary collaboration between finance, environmental science, and digital technologies to support innovation-based sustainable growth.

Although this study focuses exclusively on Scopus-indexed publications, this controlled scope ensures data consistency, comparability, and analytical reliability across countries. The mixed-methods bibliometric approach combining quantitative mapping with qualitative thematic interpretation offers both breadth and depth of analysis, yet it is inherently limited by its reliance on secondary data and bibliographic metadata. While such parameters may not fully capture contextual or institutional nuances, they enhance methodological transparency, replicability, and cross-disciplinary relevance, providing a robust foundation for future empirical validation.

Future research could build on these findings by incorporating advanced analytical methods such as text mining, machine learning, or semantic network analysis to capture deeper thematic dynamics within the intersection of venture capital and sustainability. Further investigation of links between sustainable venture capital and emerging domains such as decentralized finance, artificial intelligence, impact measurement, and digital risk assessment would generate richer insights into innovation-driven sustainability. Comparative regional studies and longitudinal analyses may also illuminate how institutional frameworks and technological ecosystems influence sustainable venture capital practices. Such extensions would strengthen the integration of digital transformation and sustainable finance research, contributing to a more resilient, inclusive, and sustainability-oriented global economic system.