August News Highlights

31 August 2018

This month includes news from BELEX, JPX, DSE, ASE, Deutche Börse, B3, NSE Nigeria, Nasdaq and more. Monthly news highlights are compiled by the SSE to give an overview of the capital markets sustainability news from that month.

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SSE INITIATIVE NEWS & EVENTS

Belgrade stock exchange commits to sustainability with UN initiative 28 August 2018 Belgrade Stock Exchange (BELEX) in Serbia has become a Partner Exchange of the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative, signifying its commitment to promoting transparent and sustainable capital markets.EVENT: UN SSE 2018 Global Dialogue 23 October 2018 | Geneva, Switzerland The SSE flagship Global Dialogue is a unique global gathering designed to bring together market leaders to analyze, promote and foster communication on stock exchanges’ sustainability initiatives. You can now find the speaker list for this year's SSE Global Dialogue online here.

WEBINARS AND EVENTS

SASB Open House 2018 11 September 2018 | San Francisco, USA SASB welcomes attendees of PRI In Person 2018 to an Open House at its San Francisco office. Learn more about SASB's sustainability standards and how standards can help support a range of ESG integration activities. PRI in Person 2018 12-14 September 2018 | San Francisco, USA PRI in Person is the leading global conference on responsible investment, offering a platform for PRI signatories and other investment professionals to learn, network and collaborate in person over a three day period. The annual event allows attendees to discuss topical issues and share experiences from their own organisation and region with peers from around the world. Global Climate Action Summit 12-14 September 2018 | San Francisco, USA The Global Climate Action Summit, happening midway between Paris 2015 and 2020, is timed to provide the confidence to governments to ‘step up’ and trigger this next level of ambition sooner rather than later. At the Summit, international and local leaders from states, regions, cities, businesses, investors and civil society—known as “non-party stakeholders/non-state actors”—will be joined by national government leaders, scientists, students, nonprofits and others in a new wave of mobilization. Institute of Directors Corporate Governance Conference 27-28 September 2018 | Nairobi, Kenya The Theme of the Conference is Good Governance: An enabler for the socio-economic transformation of East Africa. Global Islamic Finance Forum 3-4 October 2018 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia GIFF is scheduled on 3rd to 4th October 2018 in Kuala Lumpur, and will bring together Islamic finance leaders and sustainability experts to advance value-based intermediation (VBI) with the aim of building a more sustainable and inclusive global financial ecosystem. UNCTAD World Investment Forum 2018 22-25 October 2018 | Geneva, Switzerland Established in 2008, the UNCTAD World Investment Forum (WIF) is the pre-eminent global forum for investment policy-making. It is a platform for multi-stakeholder dialogue on investment in sustainable development and strives to achieve actionable outcomes for the world’s investment related challenges. Registration is now open here, and find the preliminary programme here. OECD Forum on Green Finance and Investment 13-14 November 2018 | Paris, France Hosted by the OECD Centre on Green Finance and Investment, the annual forum gathers senior policy makers and key actors in green finance and investment from around the world for open and action-oriented discussions to advance the global agenda. Registration requests are now open here, and the draft agenda can be found here. 2018 UNEP-FI Global Roundtable and Paris Climate Finance Day 26-28 November 2018 | Paris, France UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and Finance for Tomorrow, an initiative of Paris EUROPLACE, are joining forces to stage three days of action on sustainable finance in the city where decisive action on climate change was finally taken in 2015. The 4th Climate Finance Day and the UN Environment Finance Initiative’s biennial Global Roundtable will take place in Paris from 26-28 November 2018.

CONSULTATIONS

TCFD Knowledge Hub accepting case studies No Deadline A knowledge hub dedicated to resources, tools and insights on the FSB's Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations is planning to launch two new section and is accepting submissions of case studies and upcoming events. The platform hit 400 resources in July 2018. Submissions can be contributed by emailing tcfdhub@cdsb.net

GENERAL NEWS

JPX launches 2018 integrated report 31 August 2018 Prepared as part of its efforts toward integrated reporting, the report offers stakeholders and the general public a deeper insight into JPX's corporate philosophy, social raison d'être, and JOX's initiatives toward sustainable corporate development. JPX is also looking for feedback on its report, you can fill in a feedback survey here. The role of exchanges in business and investment sustainability 30 August 2018 The CEO of the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) writes about their engagement and commitment to sustainability as part of the ongoing work in promoting good governance and deeper engagement between issuers and investors at the exchange. FESE supports European Commission’s Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth 29 August 2018 The Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE) released a position statement that welcomes and supports the commitment by the European Commission as part of the Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth to find collective solutions to the urgent threat posed by climate change and considers that initiatives on sustainable finance can complement regulatory actions taken to fight climate change. Amman Stock Exchange issues guidance on sustainability reporting 29 August 2018 In the aim of raising the awareness among listed companies at the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) about the importance of sustainability and its benefits that will refer to all the relevant parties, and guiding the listed companies on the steps that follow the disclosure of sustainability reporting for the performance as well as encouraging the listed companies to issue a sustainability report periodically, the ASE issued a guidance on sustainability reporting in both languages Arabic and English. The guidance can be found here. Deutsche Börse: Green and Sustainable Finance Cluster Germany releases first baseline report 24 August 2018 The Green and Sustainable Finance Cluster Germany presented its baseline report on Friday, August 24, 2018 in Frankfurt with an inventory of sustainability activities in Frankfurt as a financial center. Brazil's B3 exchange included in the FTSE4Good Emerging Latin America Sustainability Index for second year 10 August 2018 B3 has been included for the second consecutive year in the FTSE4Good Emerging Latin America index, which evaluates the companies’ performance with regard to their environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies and practices. Nigerian exchanges commit to SMEs support for sustainable growth 9 August 2018 Nigerian Exchanges under the Association of Securities Exchanges of Nigeria (ASEN) have reiterated commitment to supporting businesses and governments in the journey towards structural transformation and sustainable growth. The CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Oscar Onyema, said this at the launch of ASEN, yesterday in Lagos. ASEN, is a non-profit industry association established to accelerate the development of domestic securities exchanges and support the Nigerian capital market to achieve greater global competitiveness. SGX amends listing rules after MAS accepts proposals to enhance corporate governance 6 August 2018 The Singapore Exchange (SGX) said it will make amendments to its listing rules following the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) acceptance of recommendations to strengthen director independence and encourage board renewal and diversity for listed companies.

ESG INDICES AND PRODUCTS

Nasdaq's sustainable bond market reaches over 100 listed green bonds 30 August 2018 Nasdaq Nordic Sustainable Bond Market now lists more than one hundred green and sustainable bonds, a testament to the widespread integration of ESG-practices among Nordic companies. Vanguard launches ESG funds 30 August 2018 Vanguard is introducing an ethically conscious international equities fund alongside an ethically conscious global bond fund for investors looking to reflect their values through their investments. Both funds are available to investors now, but will be offered as ETFs from September. Women’s Empowerment ETF Launches 27 August 2018 On Monday, the Impact Shares YWCA Women's Empowerment ETF began trading on the NYSE Arca exchange, under the ticker WOMN. The ETF, which tracks the rules-based Morningstar Women's Empowerment Index, will cover large- and midcap companies that are "empowering to women," according to the prospectus. Philippines SEC approves ASEAN green bond rules 19 August 2018 The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the “Guidelines on the Issuance of Green Bonds Under the ASEAN Green Bonds Standards.” The new guidelines adopt the ASEAN Green Bond Standards (GBS) and provide for the rules and procedures for the issuance of ASEAN Green Bonds in the Philippines. ASEAN Green Bonds refers to bonds and sukuk which comply with the ASEAN GBS, where the proceeds will be exclusively applied to finance or refinance, in part or in full, new and/or existing eligible Green Projects. World's first ESG sukuk fund launched 8 August 2018 BIMB Investment Management Bhd today launched the world’s first environmental, social and governance (ESG) sukuk fund and first syariah sukuk fund in Malaysia, approved under the Sustainable Responsible Investing guideline. The guideline was introduced in December 2017. Chinese green bond issuance up 14% in first half of 2018 1 August 2018 Green bond issuance from China reached USD 13 billion (EUR 11.1bn) in the first half (H1) of 2018, up by 14% from a year earlier, and a large portion of that is going for renewable energy. The total issuance that meets international definitions stands at USD 9.29 billion, according to the Climate Bonds Initiative’s China Green Bond Market Mid-Year Report. Of the total proceeds, USD 3.4 billion or 36% will be allocated to renewable energy, including wind and solar projects.

About the SSE

The SSE initiative is a UN Partnership Programme organised by UNCTAD, the UN Global Compact, UNEP FI and the PRI. The SSE’s mission is to provide a global platform for exploring how exchanges, in collaboration with investors, companies (issuers), regulators, policymakers and relevant international organizations, can enhance performance on ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) issues and encourage sustainable investment, including the financing of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The SSE seeks to achieve this mission through an integrated programme of conducting evidence-based policy analysis, facilitating a network and forum for multi-stakeholder consensus-building, and providing technical assistance and advisory services.