Nasdaq announced that its Nordic and Baltic exchanges in Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Iceland, Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius have issued a voluntary support program on environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure to support their listed companies.
“Many of the companies listed on the Nasdaq Nordic and Baltic exchanges are already global leaders in sustainability reporting,” said Lauri Rosendahl, President of Nasdaq Nordic. “By launching this voluntary guide, our aim is to further engage, encourage and support our listed companies in addressing critical ESG matters. The launch reinforces the mission of Nasdaq Nordic to provide fair, transparent, and efficient markets for all stakeholders.”
Rather than adding to the regulatory burden, Nasdaq Nordic is creating a framework to support the listed companies that strive to meet ESG disclosure requirements. The guide will therefore reflect the existing recommendations issued in 2015 by the United Nations (UN) and its Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative, the World Federation of Exchanges’ Sustainability Working Group and the leading industry standards on ESG reporting, as well as the European Union directive on non-financial reporting.
Since the guide is voluntary and non-binding, it will not be mandatory to comply with it. The guide will not compete with, supersede, or supplement any existing reporting framework – but rather acts as an informational reference for the listed companies that seek support.
Adam Kostyál, Senior Vice President and Head of European Listings, Nasdaq, said: “To support us in reaching even better and more broad-based ESG reporting and hence better markets, we invite our listed companies, investors and other stakeholders to give us their feedback on ESG reporting and the guide. We will also consider market specific supplements to the guide to support anchoring it on a national level in our seven markets.”
Nasdaq was one of the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative’s founding partner exchanges in 2012, and the seven Nordic and Baltic exchanges individually joined the UN SSE initiative in November 2015. By issuing the guide, they fulfil their commitment to the UN SSE’s Campaign to Close the ESG Guidance Gap.
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