The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), on Friday, launched BSE Carbonex, the first carbon-based thematic index in the country, which takes a strategic view of organisational commitment to climate change mitigation.
This index has been launched with the aim of creating a benchmark, and increasing awareness about the risks posed by climate change.
“It will enable investors to track performance of the constituent companies of BSE-100 index regarding their commitment to greenhouse gases emission reduction. Constituents of BSE Carbonex are over or underweighted compared to the benchmark based on their performance in the assessment process. In every industry, companies that achieve the strongest assessment scores are favoured at the expense of those achieving poor results,” said the BSE.
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“Launching India’s own low carbon index is a fine example of how sharing expertise from London’s experience can have mutual benefits for both the U.K. and Indian markets. The BSE Carbonex index should help Indian companies reach their commitments on low carbon growth,” said Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, while launching the carbon index.
The British High Commission in India through the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s Prosperity Fund supported the development phase of the index. ENDS Carbon, a specialist in environment, social and governance (ESG) ratings and benchmark services provider, has provided its expertise in assessing the companies with data sourced from the carbon disclosure project (CDP), a not-for-profit organisation which holds the largest and most continuous set of climate change data in the world.
“We expect BSE Carbonex to help promote active disclosure of non-financial information and provide investors with a reliable benchmark for the low carbon strategies of their companies,” said S. Ramadorai, Non-Executive Chairman of BSE on the occasion. According to him, companies which are proactive in their vision and operations with regard to climate change will find it easier to raise funds in the international market. “I am keen to share that increasingly more investors are considering carbon efficiency as an important investment theme both globally as well as in domestic markets,” Mr. Ramadorai added.
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