“The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) notes the recent joint letter from Parliamentarians who have written to the world’s stock exchanges calling on them to address climate risk.
“The WFE and its members have been working on this issue for some years in a proactive way. At the WFE Annual Meeting in October 2015, the WFE published its Guidance & Metrics for exchanges, which included setting out 33 key Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) performance indicators for exchanges to consider in relation to sustainability disclosure in their own markets.
“In addition, the WFE Annual Sustainability Survey 2016 provides an up-to-date guide, and can be accessed here. Highlights of the survey include:
- More than 90% of responding exchanges have an ESG, or sustainability, programme in place, primarily focused on education initiatives for issuers and/or investors, but also including products such as ‘green bonds’;
- Nearly 100% of respondents believe they should monitor the long-term sustainability of their listed companies, and actively participate in developing better ESG reporting metrics;
- Growing number of respondents (over 50% compared with 30% in 2014) are including ESG disclosures as part of their own reporting framework.
“As an industry, we support transparency and accountability, and measures aimed at sustaining the long-term health of markets.’’
Nandini Sukumar
Chief Executive Officer
World Federation of Exchanges