Sustainability as a development field for Islamic finance: An empirical research on participation bank corporate customers

Sustainability is a concept that has emerged as a warning about the negative effects of people on the environment and has gained more importance in the recent period. The conceptual framework of the sustainability understanding, which emerged in the 1970s, has begun to gain awareness around the world with the efforts of the international initiatives that carry out studies in this field. With the support of the advancements in global communication opportunities this approach has started to influence the masses more and more and force the institutions to take into account the economic social and environmental impacts in their activities. This necessity has increased the demand for the integration of the sustainability understanding into the economic system and led the development of products to meet these demands in the financial system.In this respect the aim of this study is to reveal the current situation of Islamic financial institutions in the field of sustainability and to raise the awareness of the issues that need development in this field by considering the sustainability concept in the context of Islamic financial principles.In the first part of the study, information is presented about the development of sustainability understanding and its place in today's economic system. In the second part, first of all, the concept of sustainability is assessed in terms of Islamic financial principles and then the applications of Islamic financial institutions in this field are examined. In the last section, an empirical research is presented which demonstrates the approaches and current practices of corporate clients in the field of sustainability of Islamic banks.It is concluded that the objectives such as social equality, equitable income distribution, prevention of the irreversible consumption of resources, protection of the environment and all creatures are in harmony with the Islamic principles which are the basis of Islamic financial practices. However, the progress made by Islamic financial institutions in implementing these principles has been quite limited. On the other hand, the results of empirical research on corporate clients of participation banks demonstrated that the participation banks are insufficient to integrate the sustainability approach into their business processes although they perceive the approach associated with their business.