At the end of March 2021, the Budapest Stock Exchange published its first ESG Reporting Guide for Issuers. The Reporting Guide aims to help BSE-listed companies to understand the ESG approach, the importance of ESG reporting, the basic terms, actors, and processes involved as well as the roadmap that leads to the implementation of a stable reporting regime. The ESG Reporting Guide for Issuers – prepared with professional contributor partner Deloitte Hungary – was preceded by a public consultation announced among BSE’s clients, partners and everyone having a stake in the market and interested, with the goal of channeling the views of capital market participants into the completed document as much as possible. The resulting Guide aspires to set some minimum expectations, recommendations to help BSE-listed issuers get started with their ESG reporting routine. BSE’s strong intention to regularly update it as needed, incorporating future regulatory changes, experience, and feedback from market participants. The guide is the latest step in BSE’s sustainability-related efforts. In 2018, BSE joined the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative declaring its commitment to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. In addition, BSE is working closely with the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE) in its Sustainable Finance Task Force and pays intense attention to the parallel efforts of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE).

"ESG awareness can further be improved by product developments and by guiding listed issuers in their efforts to develop their ESG reporting routines and provide the market with quality information. The latter is the purpose of this present Guide. We hope it shall pave the road to a more transparent and more sustainable operation for our issuers and maybe also those who are contemplating going public and getting stock exchange listed in the near future." – said Richárd Végh, CEO of the Budapest Stock Exchange.

The ESG Reporting Guide for Issuers is available on the BSE website.  

Part of a global trend

BSE joins a group of now 58 stock exchanges around the world that have written guidance on ESG reporting. The SSE ESG Guidance Database contains a comprehensive list of all stock exchange ESG guidance documents in the world so that other stock exchanges can learn from their peers. The database is updated to include an analysis of major ESG reporting instruments referenced in stock exchange guidance documents. To learn more, check our press release about the new database.