This month includes news from LSEG, NGX, PSX and more.
Monthly news highlights are compiled by the SSE to give an overview of the capital markets' sustainability news from that month.
You can subscribe to our monthly news highlights by clicking here.
SSE INITIATIVE NEWS & EVENTS
UN SSE Events at the UNCTAD World Investment Forum
16 October 2023
This year, the WIF 8th edition will take place in Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), from 16 to 20 October. Over 100 speakers are already confirmed for the SSE sessions at the Forum. During the forum, the SSE initiative, in collaboration with its partners, will hold more than a dozen sessions including:
- 17 October: SSE Global Dialogue
- 17 October: Gender Equality in Corporate Leadership
- 17 October: Net Zero Finance: the role of exchanges
- 18 October: Carbon Markets
- 18 October: Sustainable Finance and Business: Academic and Practitioner Dialogue
- 18 October: Finance for Human Rights
- 18 October: Stock Exchange action on Climate Disclosures
- 19 October: Arab Capital Markets Sustainable Finance Dialogue: from pledges to implementation
UN SSE Q3 Webinar – ISSB Standard: Briefing, Training and Call to Action
27 August 2023
This quarter’s webinar focuses on a range of exciting sustainability activities. The agenda will include: An update and sneak preview from the SSE team on their upcoming training on ISSB; A preview of a forthcoming template guidance for exchanges to guide their markets on ISSB-aligned disclosures; Exchanges’ call to action: invitation to endorse the ISSB standards.
SSE Academy supports training on climate reporting for youth
25 August 2023
The UN SSE Academy facilitated a training on climate reporting for youth, which equipped participants with essential skills and knowledge to be able to produce and evaluate climate-related data from capital markets. The training program was organized by the official youth constituency (YOUNGO) of the UN climate agency (UNFCCC).
UN SSE welcomes Bolsa de Valores de El Salvador
30 August 2023
The UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative welcomes Bolsa de Valores de El Salvador (BVES). BVES has solidified its commitment to transparency and sustainability by becoming a partner exchange of the UN SSE initiative.
EXCHANGE NEWS
Vienna Stock Exchange On A Sustainable Success Path: Over 100 Green Bonds In The Vienna ESG Segment
3 August 2023
The Vienna Stock Exchange scores with green issues: The Vienna ESG Segment has been bundling sustainable bonds under particularly high transparency criteria since May 2022 and has now recorded its hundredth green bond.
11 August 2023
The Chief Executive Officer, NGX Regulation Limited (NGX RegCo), Ms Tinuade Awe, has urged companies to incorporate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations into their overarching business strategies, emphasizing the importance of listed companies aligning their ESG reporting with their business objectives, data management, and governance practices.
11 August 2023
Over 250 participants attended a seminar entitled "The 1st SET International Conference on Family Business: Family Business in the Changing World" organized by The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) during August 3-4, 2023.
PSX held a webinar on Ensuring Diversity on Boards through category-wise voting of directors
24 August 2023
The discussion focused on the recently introduces amendments in: Listed Companies (Code of Corporate Governance) Regulations, 2019; Companies (Postal Ballot) Regulations, 2018
SET: Thailand Focus 2023 “The New Horizon”
23-25 August 2023
This year, The Stock Exchange of Thailand, in collaboration with DBS Vickers Securities (Thailand), Kiatnakin Phatra Securities and TISCO Securities & Jefferies organized “Thailand Focus 2023” the largest annual investment conference in Thailand. During the event, Dr.Prasran Trairatvoarakul, Chairman of the Stock Exchange of Thailand said: “As we transition towards the new horizon, trading of carbon credits can incentivize emission reduction, contribute to our climate commitments, and provide a new realm of investment opportunities.”
LSEG Inaugurates New Flagship Office in Kuala Lumpur
30 August 2023
LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) announced the opening of a new flagship office in Kuala Lumpur. The step reinforces LSEG’s commitment to nurturing local talent and fostering economic growth in Malaysia. “The establishment of this office underscores LSEG’s dedication to provide market infrastructure solutions that are pivotal for the country’s globalisation efforts, foreign capital attractiveness, and integration of global best practices into the local financial ecosystem. This collaboration also comes in tandem with our fruitful partnership with Bursa Malaysia to enhance sustainability reporting standards across the country,” Thomas Frossell, Group Head of Customer Operations, LSEG said.
31 August 2023
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) will host the first-ever SET Hackathon competition for the general public under the theme “Wealth and Sustainability”, opening up opportunities for thinkers, students, faculty members, investors and interested individuals. The competition is aimed to encourage them to co-invent, utilize the database of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) and develop as an innovation that can navigate investors and listed companies towards sustainable investment and business operations. Application to participate in the competition opens from today to October 10, 2023, to win prizes of over THB 300,000 (approx. USD 8,527.57)
REGULATORS AND STANDARD SETTER NEWS
Climate Bonds: Latin America and the Caribbean Sustainable Debt State of the Market 2022
8 August 2023
This is the third iteration of Climate Bonds Initiative’s State of the Market series for the LAC region. The report describes the shape and size of labelled GSS+ debt issued by LAC domiciled entities to the end of December 2022. The market analysis is enhanced by an overview of key policy developments, trends, guidance, and growth opportunities for sustainable finance in LAC. The report was supported by the Inter-American Development Bank Group.
21 August 2023
Nandini Sukumar, CEO of the World Federation of Exchanges, discusses the industry's focus on ESG initiatives such as carbon neutrality, corporate governance, and combating greenwashing. Exchanges touches many areas of the financial markets, the industry is helping to educate and convince all stakeholders that sustainability makes good business sense.
25 August 2023
“Thank you to the Global Research Alliance for Sustainable Finance and Investment for inviting me to close out this highly informative conference. The timing is certainly appropriate, at the end of the warmest summer on record—a summer that experienced extreme heat events such as smoke days that made it unsafe to go outside, a month-long stretch of 110+ days in Phoenix, and the heartbreaking deadly Maui wildfires.”
30 August 2023
“I was at the REIT Association of Singapore’s (REITAS) annual conference last week where Ernst & Young Singapore (EY) presented on climate risk disclosures in Singapore REITs. The full report is targeted for release soon. One of their key report findings is that 100% of REITs have started climate-related disclosures. Why is this? I attribute this to clarity in four areas.”
31 August 2023
On August 30, 2023, the FSA submitted a comment letter to the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) Chair in response to the ISSB’s Request for Information “Consultation on Agenda Priorities” published on May 4, 2023. The comment letter is accompanied by a cover letter by SUZUKI Shunichi, Minister of State for Financial Services.
GENDER EQUALITY
3 August 2023
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) will host a roundtable on diversity, beyond gender, on Thursday, September 14, 2023, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Women’s Empowerment Pinciples releases its 2023 Ring the Bell for Gender Equality report
16 August 2023
In celebration of 2023 International Women’s Day, UN Women co-organized Ring the Bell for Gender Equality for the ninth consecutive year in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation, UN Global Compact, UN Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative, and the World Federation of Exchanges. The global theme was Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality. The event was celebrated by 117 exchanges and central counterparty clearing houses from 97 different countries. Of these UN Women co-organized and participated in 48 event, highlighted in this report.