The founding five partner exchanges of the Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative: B3 (Brazil), the Egyptian Exchange, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Borsa Istanbul and Nasdaq – received the first-ever SSE Ground-Breaker Award for their commitment to sustainable development at a meeting during the World Investment Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, on 23 October where more than 6,000 persons participated.
The award acknowledged innovative or ground-breaking efforts by a stock exchange contributing to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
UNCTAD’s director of investment and enterprise James Zhan said, “Back in 2012, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, these five exchanges took a courageous step forward to commit publicly to the United Nations that they would actively promote sustainable finance in their markets,”
Paul Andrews, Secretary General of the International Organization of Securities Commissions, delivered the keynote address.
“What are we seeing in the marketplace today?” Mr. Andrews said. “We are seeing a substantial increase in the number of sustainability-focused financial instruments, green bonds, social impact bonds, sustainability funds, energy investment funds. What are we seeing from institutional investors? We are seeing an increased focus on issues around disclosure and addressing ESG risks; there’s real interest there. What are we seeing from exchanges? We are seeing things like ESG indices, disclosures, sustainability indexes – there has been an incredible and substantial set of progress being made on his key issues that face us and our children.”
“You are now beginning to see an increased focus by capital markets regulators on these very same issues,” Mr. Andrews added. “You just have to look what’s happening in places like Morocco, like Hong Kong, what’s happening in the European Union. Policymakers in those places, but also capital markets regulators, have decided that this is an issue that must be addressed and must be addressed today.”
Watani International
28 October 2018