The economy is significantly impacted by environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks. The growth of the economy can be sped up by the effective management of ESG risks through sustainable business practices. To promote sustainable development and to secure the long-term welfare of employees, customers, and all other stakeholders in the economy, companies must adapt and reposition their business strategies and organizational cultures. The goal of this paper is to determine how a set of common ESG elements, chosen from the viewpoints of sustainability and well-being, influence economic growth in the Western Balkan countries. For each ESG component, we used different variables. The information pertains to the five Western Balkan countries of North Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia. Because of a lack of data, Kosovo is excluded from the study. Then, we compared results from the analysis of the Western Balkan countries with a set of countries in Southeast Europe, which are members of the European Union and essentially coincide with the Western Europe countries. We performed multiple regression analysis with applied fixed effects to the data model. According to the study’s findings, each of the independent variables had no significant impact on the GDP’s annual growth of the Western Balkan countries, but two of the variables, life expectancy at birth and labor force participation, have certain impact on the GDP growth of Southeast Europe countries, which are members of the European Union. The green transition has gained significant importance in the Western Balkan countries as a crucial pathway toward sustainable economic growth, though it introduces a range of new social and economic challenges. Economically, these nations are confronted with considerable funding requirements for development. To build sustainable societies, it would be beneficial for these countries to explore more creative financing strategies. It is advised to establish financing frameworks that not only increase the transparency in policymaking but also ensure greater accountability in their execution.

The study investigated the extent to which sustainable development and finance are embedded in teaching and research activities and examined the attitudes of finance teachers and the perceived institutional support for improving sustainability education in economics faculties and departments of universities in Croatia. The results of the survey were analyzed using descriptive statistics, categorical frequency analyses, Mann-Whitney test, t-test and correlations: Non-parametric Spearman correlation and parametric Pearson product moment correlation. The research findings confirm the importance of human capital - the role of teachers in implementing and enforcing the concept of sustainable finance/development. The effective implementation of the concept of sustainable finance in the teaching process is linked to an institutionally clear concept of sustainable development, scientific work and study abroad. The introduction of sustainable finance courses is more present at the graduate level than at the undergraduate level, where sustainable finance topics are gradually introduced into existing courses.