The Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) made advancing 'gender finance' a core element of its work in sustainable finance in the last year.
In May 2022, it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with UN Women to strengthen cooperation and promote joint initiatives to advance financing for gender equality and women's empowerment around the world.
The first step of this cooperation saw LuxSE add a dedicated gender-focused bond flag to all debt securities displayed on its dedicated platform for sustainable finance, the Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX), for bonds which raise financing for projects advancing gender equality and women's empowerment.
It said this would help investors easily identify investment products that contribute to advancing gender equality and women's empowerment. Also last year, LuxSE became a signatory of the Women's Empowerment Principles, which were established by UN Global Compact and UN Women to provide guidance on how to promote gender equality in the workplace, marketplace and community.
The stock exchange also progressed in work to develop sustainable finance in emerging markets.
In 2022, LuxSE placed a strong focus on Africa and signed three MoUs focused on developing sustainable finance initiatives with exchanges located in Cabo Verde, Rwanda, and Western Africa, as well as in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, it promoted knowledge-sharing, including through the growth of its LGX Academy sustainable finance training initiative. Through a variety of courses, LuxSE said its experts helped 310 participants increase their knowledge and understanding of sustainable finance products and practices.
As of 31 December 2022, LGX encompassed 1,597 GSSS bonds from 265 issuers located in 53 countries, totalling over €831 billion ($907 billion) in funding for sustainable development throughout the world.
In 2022, 535 new green, social, sustainability or sustainability-linked bonds were displayed on LGX, comprising deals from 41 issuers new to the exchange.
It was victorious in the same category in the EF Bond Awards in 2021, 2020, 2018 and 2017.
