Shanghai Stock Exchange joins United Nations sustainability initiative
7 September 2017
(7 September 2017) The Shanghai Stock Exchange announced publicly its commitment to promoting sustainable and transparent capital markets through its voluntary membership with the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative. The exchange announced its partnership with the SSE initiative at The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) Annual General Assembly taking place in Bangkok, Thailand 6-7 September 2017.
“Shanghai Stock Exchange has been playing an active role in establishing China’s green financial system and promoting sustainable development,” said Chairman of the Shanghai Stock Exchange Mr. WU Qing. “Together with other SSE partner exchanges, we will make continuous efforts to further develop our green bond market, diversify green indices, improve listed companies’ sustainability disclosure and nurture socially responsible investors.”
The Shanghai Stock Exchange has also contributed to the SSE’s Green Finance workstream as a member of the Green Finance Advisory Group. There are now 65 stock exchanges worldwide that have committed to sustainable and transparent capital markets and are working with the SSE on various work streams.
“It is a great milestone to welcome the first exchange from China and one of the largest exchanges in the world to the UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative”, said James Zhan, UNCTAD Director of Investment and Enterprise. “China is the world’s largest issuer of green bonds and has been undertaking a number of measures to promote responsible investment and sustainable business practices. We look forward to working with the Shanghai Stock Exchange to promote sharing of best practices between all of the exchanges in China and around the world.”
The Shanghai Stock Exchange is one of the two stock exchanges operating independently in the People’s Republic of China, and is ranked 4th of the world’s stock exchanges in both Market Capitalization and Turnover, with a total of 1124 listed companies, representing approximately $4.1 trillion market capitalization.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange also recently announced the launch of a green bond pilot program, offers guidance on sustainability reporting, and has a series of sustainability related indices. (See the SSE Fact Sheets for information on the sustainability initiatives of all stock exchanges)
Together, the SSE Partner Exchanges list over 36,000 companies representing nearly $54 trillion in market capitalization from 66 countries.
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.
