Sustainable Stock Exchanges Executive Dialogue on Green Finance

The Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative is a peer-to-peer learning platform for exploring how exchanges – in collaboration with policy makers, investors, regulators and companies – can promote responsible investment for sustainable development. Launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in New York City in 2009, the SSE offers a unique platform for CEO’s of stock exchanges, listed companies and institutional investors, alongside high-level policy makers and regulators, to demonstrate leadership and understanding of the sustainable development opportunities and challenges facing capital markets today.

The sustainable development agenda culminated last year with the UN climate summit (COP21) where world leaders demonstrated the necessity for collective action on climate change. The momentum of this global agreement carries over to 2016 which sees the G20 Green Finance Study Group and the Financial Stability Board’s (FSB) industry-led disclosure task force on climate-related financial risks. Together these initiatives indicate the growing importance policy makers now place on the finance community’s contribution to the global climate agenda. The SSE Executive Dialogue on Green Finance will address key elements of the new global agenda on green finance, and evaluate what role stock exchanges can play, including:

1. How will stock exchanges be expected to support this new agenda?
2. What can stock exchanges and their regulators do to enable innovative financing mechanisms that help to drive investment towards the green economy?
3. What challenges and opportunities does the global green finance agenda pose to capital markets worldwide, and what does this mean for stock exchanges?
4. What green finance products are having the greatest impact, and which products can stock exchanges best support?
5. What impact will green finance have on the alignment of the financial and real economies?

New and renewed commitments from stock exchanges and regulators in the region will promote green finance and improved corporate sustainability reporting. The session will call for specific action from exchanges and regulators on SDG 13.3 regarding climate change awareness, mitigation, adaptation and impact reduction and SDG 12.6 regarding the promotion of sustainability reporting.

Issues to be addressed

• The role of regulators, investors and stock exchanges in bringing forward innovative financing mechanisms for green economy
• Advancing responsible investment and good corporate practices on ESG
• Climate change (SDG 13.3) and sustainability reporting (SDG 12.6)

For more details on this event and the Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative, click here.