BM&FBOVESPA, NASDAQ OMX, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) and the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) signed a commitment to responsible investment and to publishing information about companies listed on these markets, today at the Rio +20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.

BM&FBOVESPA CEO Edemir Pinto, UNCTAD Secretary General Supachai Panitchpakdi and representatives from the other exchanges were present at the ceremony, which took place at the Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Global Dialog.

The SSE initiative is a joint project organized by the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). These bodies are working on dialog between exchanges for the development of sustainable development and the publication of corporate governance and sustainability reports.

The official document highlights that: “We voluntarily commit, through dialogue with investors, companies and regulators, to promoting long term sustainable investment and improved environmental, social and corporate governance disclosure and performance among companies listed on our exchange”.

At the occasion there was also the presentation of the “Sustainable Stock Exchanges – Progress Report” developed by Responsible Research with the support of Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Global Compact, with the sponsorship of Aviva Investors. The report, available at http://tiny.cc/SSE_Report_2012, surveyed 30 major global stock exchanges on the breadth and depth of their sustainability initiatives and set out the exchanges’ sustainability advances since 2010 - the year in which the first report was first published.