Mongolian stock exchange partners with UN initiative to scale up sustainable finance

21 September 2017

(21 September 2017) The Mongolian Stock Exchange signed a commitment to promote sustainable and transparent capital markets signifying its partnership with the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative. As a member of this voluntary UN initiative, the exchange will work with investors, issuers, policy makers, capital market regulators and its stock exchange peers around the world to promote responsible investment in sustainable development.

“Mongolian Stock Exchange is committed to be one of the pioneers to promote sustainable financing in our country and encourage sustainable business practices among our listed companies. We are looking forward to engage in dialogue and cooperation with other exchanges around the world to further advance the stock exchange’s role in promoting global sustainable development,” said Altai Khangai, CEO of the Mongolian Stock Exchange.

Mongolia recently hosted its 5th Sustainable Finance Forum held in September 2017, entitled “Fostering Partnerships to Scale Up Sustainable Finance.” This event, hosted in collaboration with the Bank of Mongolia, the Ministry of Finance, the Financial Regulatory Commission, among other organizing institutions, highlighted the Mongolian government’s commitment to achieve the 2010 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The SSE works with its Partner Exchanges on five key SDGs, and is launching a guidance alongside the United Nations climate change conference (COP23) in Bonn, Germany, to help exchanges contribute to the achievement of the Paris Agreement through Green Finance.

The five SDGs that the SSE has identified to be most relevant to stock exchanges are:

  • Gender equality (Goal 5) Target 5.5: Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life.
  • Decent work and economic growth (Goal 8 ) Target 8.3: Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services.
  • Sustainability information (Goal 12) Target 12.6: Encourage companies, especially large and trans-national companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle
  • Climate change (Goal 13) Target 13.3: Improve education, awareness raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning.
  • Global partnerships (Goal 17) Target 17.6: Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technologies and financial resources to support the achievement of sustainable development goals in all countries, particularly developing countries.

The Mongolian Stock Exchange is the country’s sole stock exchange and was established in 1991 by the decree of the Mongolian Government to privatize state-owned assets.

About the SSE

​The SSE initiative is a UN Partnership Programme organised by UNCTAD, the UN Global Compact, UNEP FI and the PRI. The SSE’s mission is to provide a global platform for exploring how exchanges, in collaboration with investors, companies (issuers), regulators, policymakers and relevant international organizations, can enhance performance on ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) issues and encourage sustainable investment, including the financing of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The SSE seeks to achieve this mission through an integrated programme of conducting evidence-based policy analysis, facilitating a network and forum for multi-stakeholder consensus-building, and providing technical assistance and advisory services.