Euronext has launched a series of environment, social and governance (ESG) tools and sustainable finance-focused initiatives, including making issuers’ non-financial data available on its website.
According to the market infrastructure provider, the aim is to support its “Fit for 1.5°” climate commitment, which is based on the development of products and services that would help the company, its partners and clients, and the European economy curb the increase in global temperatures,
It is also to includes its “Growth for Impact 2024” strategy to build the leading market infrastructure in Europe, which includes empowering sustainable finance as a key strategic priority.
“Effective positive change requires efforts and cooperation among key players in the market,” said Euronext CEO and Chairman Stéphane Boujnah.
He added, “Euronext can significantly impact the European sustainability agenda by leveraging its distinct position in financing the real economy and linking local economies with global capital markets.”
One of the new tools introduced includes “My ESG Profile,” a digital tool enabling issuers to showcase their sustainability efforts and allowing investors to access ESG data.
Euronext said that it will deploy nearly 1,900 ESG company profiles, becoming the first exchange to provide standardised non-financial issuer data available on its website.
In addition, Euronext is creating a new family of biodiversity-focused indices -the Euronext Biodiversity Enablers index, developed in partnership with Iceberg Data Lab.
The new index serves as a global benchmark highlighting companies’ positive biodiversity impact through metrics like Dependency Exposure Score and Biodiversity Avoided Impact. Companies in the index are selected from the “Euronext World Index” universe.
Additional initiatives announced by the company include the strengthening of the ESG content in its pre-IPO educational programs, and the publication of a new “ESG pre-IPO guide” outlining recommendations on best practices for ESG during the IPO process.
Boujnah said, “As strong advocates of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) directive, we firmly believe that the shift towards sustainable finance relies on improved extra-financial standards and more precise, regulated and granular ESG criteria.
Our newly unveiled ESG products and services are designed to empower companies in their pursuit of these goals.”
Euronext also announced the launch of the Euronext Foundation aimed at supporting local sustainable communities and projects across Europe, in areas including financial literacy, diversity and inclusion, and marine resources.
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