Purpose: In this study, we aim to define a new ecological financial pecking order. We examine how SMEs' adherence to the environment in the Mediterranean region is impacted by their financial resources and how women Entrepreneurship could play a moderating role in this relationship. Design/methodology/approach: Our data are pooled cross-sectional firm level data across 14 Mediterranean countries, with a total of 5,949 observations over the period from 2018 to 2020. We look into the moderating influence of SMEs’ female ownership on the financial sources-environmental engagement link using GLS estimations. To reach our aim we focus on seven funding sources and develop a green engagement construct using JCA. Besides, we distinguish between the least and most environmentally engaged companies in the EU and its neighborhood and compare the different interactions and possible moderations. Findings: Results show that government subsidies foster environmental engagement, followed by supplier credits with a less significant positive impact. The bank credits have the least significant beneficial influence, while non-bank financial institutions have a non-significant effect. We underline that environmental engagements are hindered by the other funds, issued bonds and internal funds. Research limitations/implications: SMEs in the Mediterranean region, particularly the less environmentally conscious, require strong legal frameworks to enforce environmental responsibility and raise awareness. Integrating less environmentally committed EU SMEs into state subsidy strategies is a chance to improve environmental responsibility in the region. Originality/value: To our knowledge, there are no prior studies that present a detailed financial structure and environmental management investigation for SMEs within the Mediterranean region while considering the moderating effect of women's entrepreneurship.

This paper examines the influence of informal competition on SMEs innovation in the Eastern European transition economies. It investigates whether credit constraints mediate this relation. SMEs innovation is presented through four measures: Product innovation, Process innovation, Radical innovation and Green innovation. Using the BEEPs VI that covers the period from 2018-2020, we show that informal competition affects positively the product, process and radical innovation. Yet, it has a non-significant effect on green innovation. Besides, the informal sector increases SMEs credit constraints, which indirectly leads to less corporate innovation. The negative indirect effect restrains the positive direct effect. Hence, a partial mediation effect of credit constraints on the informal competition and the innovation proxies is reported with the exception of green innovation.

This study investigates the impact of environmental attention on cryptocurrency market volatility by introducing the Crypto Environmental Attention Index (CEAI), a new metric inspired by Wang et al. (2022) and constructed using daily web search data. Environmental concerns can significantly impact the popularity and volatility of cryptocurrencies, influencing risk perceptions, and shaping market dynamics. Using vector autoregression (VAR), vector error correction models (VECM), and Granger causality tests on data from 2014 to 2022, the study finds that Ethereum's volatility is strongly influenced by the CEAI in both the short and long‐term, whereas Bitcoin volatility has a short‐term unidirectional effect on environmental attention and a bidirectional relationship in the long term. This study is situated within a broader economic framework of sustainable finance, the transition to greener blockchain technologies, and regulatory responses to environmental issues. It offers actionable insights for risk management, policy formulation, and cryptocurrency valuation using environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria.