For the second year running the London Stock Exchange won the Stock exchange of the year award.
Central to London Stock Exchange's ESG credentials over the past year has been the Green Economy Mark. The mark is available to all equity and global depositary receipts issuers on all segments of the main market and AIM, formerly Alternative Investment Market, that generate at least 50% of total annual revenues from products and services that contribute to the global green economy, according to the FTSE Russell's Green Revenue Classification System (GRCS).
More than 110 companies and funds with a combined market capitalisation of £159.8 billion ($204.3 billion) have the Green Economy Mark. They were responsible for 7.4%, £1.4 billion, of the total capital raised on the London Stock Exchange in 2023. If issuers with the Green Economy Mark were a sector, it would be ranked the fourth-largest capital-raising sector in 2023.
Elsewhere, the Sustainable Bond Market (SBM) of the stock exchange raised £64.1 billion in 2023 from 119 new and existing bond issuances. Significant issues here included the first sustainability-linked bond (SLB) to include a gender-related key performance indicator (KPI) by a sovereign issuer, Chile, the first Emirati dirham(AED) denominated green sukuk in the UAE from First Abu Dhabi Bank and Korea's first blue bond by Keximbank, reflecting the international nature of the stock exchange.
The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has also taken on a leadership role in many international partnerships and initiatives covering ESG issues. These include the Net Zero Financial Service Providers Alliance (NZFSPA) and Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) as well as a prominent role in the Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) to prevent standards fragmentation.
Also, in 2023 London Stock Exchange partnered with the Islamic Development Bank and International Capital Market Association (ICMA) to develop a practitioners' guide on the issuance of sukuk bonds in line with the Green Bond Principles and Sustainability Bond Guidelines. The guidance was launched earlier this year.
"We continue to seek to drive standards in ESG and climate data and disclosure, something that is essential to support the continued scaling of the global market to raise sustainable capital in which London is maintaining its world-leading position. We also remain focused on providing our issuers with support, education and tools to strengthen their sustainability engagement with investors and wider stakeholders," said Julia Hoggett, CEO of London Stock Exchange.
