Euronext Group’s five European exchanges plus six others from around the globe have joined the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative (SSE), pledging to promote greater disclosure and encourage investment related to ESG issues.
The entry of Euronext London, Euronext Brussels, Euronext Lisbon, Euronext Paris and Euronext Amsterdam brings the number of exchanges in the SSE, which is sponsored by the UN, to 47 – almost triple the membership of 17 it had a year ago.
Along with the Euronext exchanges, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, Qatar Stock Exchange, Bolsas y Mercados Españoles, Canada’s NEO Aequitas, the National Stock Exchange of India and the Casablanca Stock Exchange also joined the SSE at an event timed around the UN climate talks in Paris.
‘Euronext has a responsibility to create a productive dialogue between investors and issuers, and encourage issuers to communicate their efforts in the corporate sustainability field,’ Stéphane Boujnah, CEO of Euronext Group, says in a press release. ‘Joining the SSE initiative and partnering with the UN and our industry is another milestone in Euronext’s support for best practices in the environmental, social and governance fields as well as for corporate social responsibility.’
Also timed around the Paris summit, the UN-sponsored Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) and a coalition of investors, development banks, financial sector associations and non-governmental organizations formed the Green Infrastructure Investment Coalition, a group that aims to increase investment and financing to shift toward a low-carbon economy.
The coalition’s agenda ‘will include examining barriers to capital flows, identifying forward infrastructure pipelines and facilitating greater capital market participation in green infrastructure development and financing,’ the UN PRI says in a press release.
