The world’s exchanges are moving beyond investor education about sustainability issues to more tangible efforts, according to a new survey released Thursday by the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE).
WFE’s third annual environmental, social and governance (ESG) survey, which examines sustainability issues at exchanges and financial sector infrastructure firms, finds that about 90% of respondents now have some sort of sustainability program in place.
Last year, respondents said that issuer and investor education was the most popular initiative in this area. That has been surpassed this year by a number of other efforts. For example, the WFE reports that two-thirds of respondents now have a program to encourage better disclosure about ESG issues from issuers. Exchanges are also running sustainability events, making their own commitments to sustainability, and offering more ESG products, among other initiatives.
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The survey finds that sustainability-focused indices continue to be the most common ESG product offered by exchanges (42%), but notes there has been “marked growth” in the number of exchanges that are now listing green bonds (17%).
Additionally, 75% of exchanges said that they believe that it will be possible to develop globally consistent ESG disclosure standards, the WFE reports.
“While we fully support the focus on ESG disclosure, we believe moving towards better, decision-useful ESG metrics will in the future enable a more meaningful assessment of corporate management of ESG-related risks and opportunities,” says Siobhan Cleary, head of research & public policy at the WFE, in a statement.
“These survey results not only show the practical ways in which the majority of global exchanges are tackling the long-term health and sustainability of their markets, but also demonstrate the continuing mainstreaming of the ESG agenda in the financial sector,” adds Nandini Sukumar, CEO of the WFE.
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