(10 July 2017, Milan) More than 300 participants registered for Borsa Italiana’s inaugural Italian Sustainability Day. Opened by the CEO of Borsa Italiana, the gathering fostered dialogue between companies and investors on material environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. The day’s events featured one-to-one meetings between issuers and investors organized by the exchange to give market participants the opportunity to learn more about ESG risks and opportunities at the company level.

“We keep innovating in order to make our markets able to respond to the ever changing needs coming from our stakeholders. With this event we want to encourage the dialogue between companies and investors on sustainable themes, matters that increasingly influence capital flows at a global level,” said Borsa Italiana CEO Raffaele Jerusalmi.

For the first time at an event organized by the exchange, 17 companies will meet 30 portfolio managers in more than 80 meetings to exchange views on ESG strategies. In addition to one-to-one meetings, market participants engaged in an informative program of workshops. Themes covered included: the global trends of sustainable and responsible investment; the dialogue between companies, investors and analysts on ESG variables; and ESG reporting and communication. Other more specific themes were also addressed such as the financing of sustainable activities through Green Bonds, investors engagement, indexes and data for investment selection.

The SSE was an institutional supporter for this event. UNCTAD’s SSE coordinator Anthony Miller was in Milan for the event and held a number of meetings with Borsa Italiana’s dedicated teams on corporate governance, green bonds and SME development.

“The LSE Group has consistently demonstrated strong leadership on sustainability issues, and Borsa Italiana’s inaugural Italian Sustainability Day is another milestone in promoting greater progress on integrating ESG issues into everyday finance,” said Anthony Miller. “Based on the strong turnout among investors and issuers, we are hopeful that this will become a regular annual event that other exchanges may wish to replicate in their own markets.”

Borsa Italiana is part of the London Stock Exchange Group, which launched its guide to ESG reporting in February 2017 as part of the SSE campaign to close the ESG guidance gap. “This guide is specifically focused on improving the dialogue and information flows between issuers and investors, which will, in turn, benefit the market as a whole, as good practice in ESG becomes more and more relevant in the investment chain,”said Mr. Jerusalmi at the launch of the guidance.

The first Italian Sustainability Day is part of the broader program of the Italian Equity Roadshow, organized by Borsa Italiana to promote its listed companies to the international financial community.

See Borsa Italiana’s Press Release, in Italian, here.