SSE INITIATIVE NEWS & EVENTS
5 September 2018
The first Green Economy Investment Summit in Costa Rica, hosted by SSE Partner Exchange, the National Stock Exchange of Costa Rica (BNV) in collaboration with the Asociación Costa Rica por Siempre, was held on September 5th in San Jose city.
Panama joins UN initiative for sustainable and transparent markets
17 September 2018
The Stock Exchange of Panama (BVP) joined the Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative by signing a commitment letter to promote sustainable and transparent capital markets. The Panama exchange is the 77th SSE Partner Exchange, the 2nd from Central America.
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
Global Islamic Finance Forum3-4 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.
NYSE hosts webinar on ESG disclosure
10 October 2018 | Webinar
Join NYSE for an on-camera webinar with sustainability accounting standards-setter SASB and NRG Energy. NRG will discuss how incorporating ESG information into their annual report helped them engage with investors and SASB will share insights on the latest standards updates.
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.
Mission Finance: Climate Innovation Summit
6-8 November 2018 | Dublin
The Climate Innovation Summit, attended by 600 of Europe’s decision makers, climate finance innovators and sustainability change-makers, takes place between November 6 and 8. Participants will share expertise and best practice, through inspirational talks, capacity-building masterclasses, workshops and networking on how to scale up sustainable finance solutions that accelerate climate action. Register here.
8-9 November 2018 | Stockholm, Sweden
Join institutional investors, fund distributors and asset owners at the leading conference on global ESG and impact investing. The Fourth TBLI CONFERENCE NORDIC will be held in Stockholm, hosted by Nasdaq. Register 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.
GENERAL NEWS
Task Force report shows momentum building for climate-related financial disclosures
26 September 2018
The Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) Status Report provides an overview of the extent to which companies in their 2017 reports included information aligned with the core TCFD recommendations published in June 2017. The report also provides information to support preparers of disclosures in implementing the TCFD recommendations. The full report is available here.
24 September 2018
Climate Bonds Initiative’s flagship The State of the Market report was launched at HSBC’s Finance for Global Change Forum. The report provides an analysis of the labelled green bond climate-aligned and universe, highlighting investment opportunities to finance climate-aligned assets within the following climate themes: clean energy, low carbon transport, water management, low carbon buildings, waste management and sustainable land use. Read the full report here.
A4S and Aviva financing our future report
24 September 2018
The Prince's Accounting for Sustainability Project (A4S) in partnership with Aviva Investors has today launched the Financing our Future report, which makes recommendations on how each part of the investment chain can take practical actions to move towards a sustainable global financial system that supports delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and on a pathway towards achieving the Paris Agreement. To read the report please click here.
Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission announces green finance strategic framework
21 September 2018
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong today announced its strategic framework to contribute to the development of green finance in Hong Kong. A priority will be to enhance listed companies' consistent and comparable disclosure of environmental information, with an emphasis on climate-related risks and opportunities. These initiatives will complement and build onto existing initiatives to promote green bonds.
Nasdaq Named to Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index for the third consecutive year
18 September 2018
Nasdaq announced it has been selected as an index component of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) for the third consecutive year.
B3 included in PRI report on ESG integration factors
13 September 2018
CFA Institute and Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) has launched the first of three regional best practice reports to help investors understand how they can better integrate ESG factors into their equity, corporate bond, and sovereign debt portfolios. The report includes B3 as a case study. In the document, B3 reports on how it advances the ESG agenda through the Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE) and the Report or Explain Initiative for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
Shanghai exchange, LuxSE & BOC hold signing ceremony of MOU on "Green Bond Info Channel"
13 September 2018
The cooperation between the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and the Shanghai Stock Exchange focuses on providing relevant information in English about Chinese domestic green bonds to offshore investors. Bank of China, China’s most globalized and diversified bank providing financial services to customers across the Chinese mainland as well as in 54 countries and regions, will now act as the primary partner in offering related services to investors using the Green Bond Channel.
10 September
As an important player in poverty alleviation, SZSE-listed companies actively respond to the call of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), conscientiously implement national strategies, and secure solid progress in targeted poverty alleviation. By developing local industries, education, and healthcare, they carry out targeted poverty alleviation in a sustainable manner, therefore promoting development in poverty-stricken areas and lifting many people out of poverty.
Nairobi Bourse plans rolling out of green bonds
10 September 2018
The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) have rolled out a legal framework to support issuing of green bonds. The new segment will provide issuers with a wide array of solutions to support green and social bond issuance, giving both retail and wholesale investors an opportunity to invest in these tailored instruments.
15 August 2018
A new analysis of nearly 500 of the largest companies on the Forbes Global 2000 list finds that most companies are using comparable and industry-wide disclosure frameworks for reporting sustainability risks and opportunities. However, the analysis finds that only a small percentage of companies disclose the business relevance of these risks and opportunities, and only a handful provide third party assurance on these disclosures.
ESG INDICES AND PRODUCTS
New carbon efficient indices launched by S&P Dow Jones
28 September 2018
S&P Dow Jones Indices have announced new carbon efficient indices to serve as part of an ESG investment strategy. The indices include the S&P Global ex-Japan LargeMidCap carbon efficient index, the S&P Global LargeMidCap Carbon Efficient Index and the S&P/JPX Carbon Efficient Index. The indices are designed to reduce exposure to high-carbon companies in a systematic way, while maintaining a risk/return profile similar to their benchmarks.
China Construction Bank’s $1bn bond becomes sustainability bond on LSEG's Market
26 September 2018
London Stock Exchange welcomed the listing of China Construction Bank Hong Kong branch’s US$1 billion bond on its International Securities Market. The bond, part of CCB’s $15 billion MTN programme, becomes the first Sustainability Bond listing on London Stock Exchange’s ISM.
Nasdaq Stockholm launches two new sustainable debt segments
25 September 2018
Nasdaq today announced the launch of two new market segments in Stockholm – Nasdaq Stockholm Sustainable Commercial Papers and Nasdaq Stockholm Sustainable Products. The new market segments will list sustainable commercial papers and structured products, respectively, and follows the strong growth of Nasdaq’s Sustainable Bond Market.
BlackRock, Thomson Reuters launch new diversity and inclusion ETF
24 September 2018
BlackRock Inc. and Thomson Reuters are partnering on a new exchange-traded fund that invests in companies that promote diversity and inclusion practices. The new iShares Thomson Reuters Inclusion & Diversity UCITS ETF (OPEN) tracks an index of 100 companies that have the most diverse and inclusive workplaces, according to a ranking of 2,000 publicly traded companies across developed and emerging markets.
SDG-linked socially responsible ETF debuts
24 September 2018
Socially responsible-focused issuer Impact Shares has rolled out its third ETF today. The firm partnered with the United Nations Capital Development Fund to bring the Impact Shares Sustainable Development Goals Global Equity ETF (SDGA) to market. The new ETF comes with an expense ratio of 0.76% and lists on the NYSE Arca.
Asian Development Bank prices new green bonds to fund climate change mitigation projects
23 September 2018
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has again accessed the green bond market as it raised another US$750 million to help finance climate change mitigation and adaptation projects.
Announced on September 20, the new 10-year bond was priced at 98.982% with a coupon of 3.125% to offer a yield of 16.90bp over the US treasuries.
Extramot green segment continues to grow with Iren's second bond
19 September 2018
Borsa Italiana today welcomes Iren’s second bond on ExtraMOT PRO green segment. The seven-year dated bond placement is for an overall value of €500 million at 1.95 per cent. The bond is admitted today to the green and social segment of ExtraMOT PRO, which offers institutional investors the opportunity to identify those instruments whose proceeds are used to finance green, social and environmental projects.
