The Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd (BSE) announced on Friday that it has joined the Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative.
The SSE initiative was launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UNCTAD Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi in 2009 at UN headquarters in New York City.
The BSE has been the first amongst global peers to join five other leading exchanges that have publicly committed to promoting sustainable investment practices.
Other exchanges include the Brazilian stock exchange BM & FBOVESPA, Egyptian Exchange (EGX), Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE), Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and NASDAQ OMX made a commitment towards improving sustainability at the Sustainable Stock Exchanges 2012 global dialogue in Rio de Janeiro earlier this year.
BSE is also credited with launching the first-ever live Carbon Index BSE-GREENEX in India, earlier in 2012. The index measures the performances of companies in terms of carbon emissions.
“BSE is committed to working with investors, companies and regulators in playing a transformative role towards enhancing sustainability in Indian capital markets.
“We are hopeful that this initiative would help us in further introducing a culture of sustainable business practices amongst BSE’s listed companies,” BSE’s Interim CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan said in a statement in Mumbai.
The initiative aims at exploring how exchanges can work together with stakeholders to enhance corporate transparency and performance on ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) issues besides encouraging responsible long-term approaches to investment.
