Meeting alongside the United Nations climate change summit (COP23), capital market leaders from around the world gathered to share ideas for promoting green finance in alignment with the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals. Convened by the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative and hosted by the Luxembourg Green Exchange alongside the UN climate change summit (COP23), the event featured the release of a new SSE action plan on how stock exchanges can grow green finance.

The SSE Green Finance Action Plan was built with the inputs of over 70 experts from around the world and includes practical examples from more than a dozen stock exchanges including Brazil’s B3 exchange, Deutsche Boerse, Intercontinental Exchange (parent to New York Stock Exchange), Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Luxembourg Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and Shanghai Stock Exchange, among others. A checklist of 12 action points within 4 action areas forms the heart of the new guidance, which can be used as a self-assessment or benchmarking tool to identify areas where stock exchanges can initiate or expand their activities on green finance.

Learn more about the SSE Green Finance Action Plan here, and download the guide here.

About the Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative

The SSE is a peer-to-peer learning platform for exploring how exchanges—in collaboration with investors, regulators, and companies—can encourage sustainable investment and enhance corporate transparency, and ultimately performance, on ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) issues. The SSE is convened by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UN Global Compact, the UN Environment Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). For more information on specific exchanges’ sustainability efforts, how to become a Partner Stock Exchange, and further opportunities to advance the integration of sustainability within capital markets, visit www.sseinitiative.org