Nasdaq Nordic and Nasdaq Baltic Join Global Campaign for ESG Disclosure
Stockholm/Tallinn/Riga/Vilnius, March 1, 2016 — Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) today announced that its Nordic and Baltic exchanges in Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Reykjavik, Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius have committed to produce a guidance on environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure for listed companies by the end of 2016. Nasdaq Nordic is proud to join the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative’s “Campaign to Close the ESG Guidance Gap”. Seven Nasdaq and Nordic exchanges are now committed to the guidance disclosure, meaning the campaign will have 15 exchanges with published guidance and 20 exchanges committed to publish guidance by the end of 2016.
Nasdaq was one of the SSE’s founding partner exchanges in 2012, and the seven Nasdaq Nordic and Baltic exchanges joined the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative in November 2015. The commitment today by the local, Nordic and Baltic exchanges marks an important step in Nasdaq’s continuous efforts to develop and promote sustainability guidelines. This effort will also reinforce Nasdaq's mission to provide fair, transparent, and efficient markets for all stakeholders. The forthcoming guidance will be aligned with the recommendations issued in 2015 by both the UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges’ initiative and the World Federation of Exchanges’ Sustainability Working Group that Nasdaq chaired.
“We look forward to working together with the UN SSE initiative and the WFE as we move forward on this project. Many of the Nordic exchanges are already global leaders in sustainability reporting, and we will continue to engage our listed companies on the ESG transparency and provide them with disclosure guidance,” said Adam Kostyál, Senior Vice President of Global Listings Services and Head of European Listings, Nasdaq.
“Nasdaq in the Nordic and Baltic regions is pleased to lead an exchange industry effort that increases data transparency, reduces risk, and provides the foundation for better, more sustainable long-term investments,” added Lauri Rosendahl, Senior Vice President, European Equities and Derivatives, Nasdaq, and President of Nasdaq Helsinki.
"Today's announcement by the Nasdaq Nordic and Baltic exchanges demonstrates the kind of leadership required from the private sector to help us meet the UN's Sustainable Development Goals," according to Joakim Reiter, UNCTAD Deputy-Secretary General. "I welcome the commitment of Nasdaq Nordic to promote more sustainable business and the example this sets for other stock exchanges around the world."
"Following the successful outreach of Allianz Global Investors and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), I am thrilled to receive the commitment from Nasdaq’s seven Nordic and Baltic exchanges to produce a guidance on ESG disclosure for their listed companies by the end of 2016. With exchanges being an essential interface between issuers and investors, marketplaces like Nasdaq Nordic and Baltic exchanges have a critical role to play in the development of sustainable capital markets, by encouraging their issuers to provide investors with consistent, comparable ESG information," said Marissa Blankenship, Vice President and Senior ESG Analyst at Allianz Global Investors.
Full details of the United Nations SSE campaign can be found on the SSE website at http://www.sseinitiative.org/ESGap/.
About Nasdaq
Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) is a leading provider of trading, clearing, exchange technology, listing, information and public company services across six continents. Through its diverse portfolio of solutions, Nasdaq enables customers to plan, optimize and execute their business vision with confidence, using proven technologies that provide transparency and insight for navigating today's global capital markets. As the creator of the world's first electronic stock market, its technology powers more than 70 marketplaces in 50 countries, and 1 in 10 of the world's securities transactions. Nasdaq is home to more than 3,700 listed companies with a market value of over $9.6 trillion and nearly 10,000 corporate clients. To learn more, visit nasdaq.com/ambition or business.nasdaq.com.
Nasdaq Copenhagen, Nasdaq Helsinki, Nasdaq Iceland, Nasdaq Riga, Nasdaq Stockholm, Nasdaq Tallinn, Nasdaq Vilnius, Nasdaq Clearing and Nasdaq Broker Services are respectively brand names for the regulated markets of Nasdaq Copenhagen A/S, Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd., Nasdaq Iceland hf., Nasdaq Riga, AS, Nasdaq Stockholm AB, Nasdaq Tallinn AS, AB Nasdaq Vilnius, Nasdaq Clearing AB and Nasdaq Broker Services AB. Nasdaq Nordic represents the common offering by Nasdaq Copenhagen, Nasdaq Helsinki, Nasdaq Iceland and Nasdaq Stockholm. Nasdaq Baltic represents the common offering by Nasdaq Tallinn, Nasdaq Riga and Nasdaq Vilnius. Nasdaq Baltic Market represents the common offering by Nasdaq Tallinn, Nasdaq Riga and Nasdaq Vilnius. Read more: nasdaqbaltic.com.
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Media Relations Contact:
Heli-Kirsti Airisniemi
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