Global Compact LEAD Symposium Establishes Investors as Drivers of Sustainability

NASDAQ OMX joining the Global Compact underscores stock exchanges as important link in investor-company communications

(27 November 2012, New York) – Today the heads of major global reporting initiatives and senior corporate executives will address future alignment of sustainability communications during a special symposium convened by Global Compact LEAD, a platform for advanced corporate sustainability practices. The 3rd LEAD Symposium reflects one of the most important drivers of change – the increasing analysis by investors to integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into the investment process.

Businesses worldwide are increasingly expected to communicate to stakeholders on their social and environmental impacts, and on the strategies and policies they have in place to continuously improve their sustainability performance. A number of trends and developments are changing the nature of corporate communication on sustainability, including online reporting, increased usage of social media, and parallel movements toward integrated reporting and specialized reporting on issues such as water and climate.

The LEAD Symposium seeks to align the key reporting initiatives and integrate ESG communication into other mainstream channels of communication to investors. Senior representatives from the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) will engage directly with LEAD companies, stock exchanges and the Office of the New York City Comptroller on critical topics ranging from conflicting perceptions of ‘materiality’ within various reporting standards and frameworks, to innovative ways that companies can meet investors’ growing appetites for relevant ESG data.

As part of today’s symposium opening, the NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. announced it has joined the UN Global Compact. NASDAQ is the first North American exchange to join the Global Compact and is host of the LEAD Symposium at its MarketSite in Times Square.

“We very much welcome NASDAQ’s leadership role in committing to the UN Global Compact,” said Georg Kell, Executive Director of the Global Compact. “We encourage other major global stock exchanges to help embed sustainability into financial markets and make the critical link between investors and companies in facilitating ESG communication.”

Sandy Frucher, Vice Chairman of NASDAQ OMX, presents its letter of commitment to the UN Global Compact, which was received by Global Compact Deputy Director Gavin Power. Photo Credit: Christina von Messling/UN Global Compact

Today’s announcement follows a commitment made by NASDAQ OMX and four other exchanges to promote long-term sustainable investment and improved environmental, social and corporate governance disclosure and performance among companies listed in their markets. Co-organized by the UN Global Compact, UNCTAD, UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and UNEP Finance Initiative, the Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative builds on three years of successful engagement with major stock exchanges.

To further support the SSE initiative’s more robust activities and greater engagement of stock exchanges between companies and investors, PRI and the UN Global Compact recently launched a new ESG Investor Briefing Series. The series aims to improve company-investor communications on ESG information, as well as the ability of financial markets to properly value sustainability performance.

• Learn more about Global Compact LEAD.
• For more information on the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative, please visit www.SSEinitiative.org.
• Learn more about the ESG Investor Briefing Series.

Contacts

Ole Hansen
Head, Global Compact LEAD
hansen4@un.org

Kristen Coco
Public Affairs and Media Relations
cocok@un.org
+1 (917) 367-3423