Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) today announced that its Nordic exchanges* in Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Reykjavik, Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius have joined the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative. Nasdaq was one of the SSE’s founding partner exchanges in 2012, and today’s commitment by the local, Nordic exchanges marks an important step in Nasdaq’s continuous efforts to develop and promote sustainability guidelines.
“Nasdaq has always been a believer in the virtues of sustainability” said Magnus Billing, President of Nasdaq Nordic. “As a sustainable exchange operator, we continuously encourage and support the environmental, societal and governance performance of our listed companies. We are proud of our collaboration with the SSE initiative, and we look forward to continue our efforts in this field.”
The UN SSE initiative was launched by Ban Ki-moon in 2009, and offers a learning platform for exploring how exchanges—together with investors, regulators and listed companies—can encourage sustainable investments and enhance corporate transparency. The SSE is convened by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UN Global Compact, the UN Environment Program’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).
“I am proud to welcome Nordic stock exchanges to this UN initiative. This is the start of a partnership, where Nordic leadership and support is critically important,” said UNCTAD Deputy-Secretary General Mr. Joakim Reiter. “Stock exchanges are uniquely positioned between policy makers, investors and companies to facilitate a new market dynamic that puts sustainability centre stage.”
Nasdaq’s commitment was made public at the SSE Regional Dialogue in Helsinki, Finland – the first event of its kind in the Nordics. The event gathered the CEOs of Nasdaq’s Nordic Exchanges and Oslo Börs, as well as more than 100 senior executives of listed companies, institutional investors and high-level policy makers, including the Swedish Minister for Financial Markets, Mr. Per Bolund.
*Main markets and Nasdaq First North at Nasdaq Copenhagen, Nasdaq Helsinki, Nasdaq Iceland and Nasdaq Stockholm.
