(Geneva, Switzerland 4 May 2017) This week the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative launched its Green Finance workstream with a meeting of advisory group members in Geneva. Co-chaired by the Luxembourg Stock Exchange’s Secretary General, Maurice Bauer, and Member of the Executive Committee, Julie Becker, the advisory group aims to launch a new voluntary green finance toolkit at the COP23 climate summit in Bonn, Germany this November. “Green finance plays an important role in our overall efforts to green the entire investment chain, from institutional investors and capital markets to multinational enterprises and foreign direct investment,” said James Zhan, UNCTAD Director of Investment and Enterprise in his opening remarks. “We welcome the opportunity to work with capital market leaders from both the private and public sector, as well as other experts, to help expand opportunities for promoting green investment.” The multi-stakeholder advisory group brings together stock exchanges, regulators, institutional investors, issuers, financial services firms and civil society to contribute their expertise to the creation of the toolkit. When published, the document will provide voluntary guidance to stock exchanges on practical steps to promote greener financial markets and incorporate green financial instruments and products into their listings. The SSE’s work on green finance builds on the outcomes of earlier multi-stakeholder dialogues with leaders of exchanges, regulators and investors in Paris, Nairobi and Marrakech.

The SSE’s organizers thank CDP for its sponsorship support for the 2 May Geneva meeting of the Green Finance Advisory Group.