Edited by Torino Social Impact

Policy & Practice

The international debate and best practices from around the world

22 April 2021

Social Stock Exchange, Paris launches an index for the best responsible and sustainable companies

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Euronext launches "Cac40 Esg", dedicated to listed companies that present the best international "practices" required by ethical funds and pension funds.

Global demand for “sustainable” finance is growing and stock exchanges around the world can only adapt to this. Euronext, the Paris-based company that controls some of the main European price lists, including Milan, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon, could not be excluded.

Euronext has met the needs and demands that come from ethical funds and pension funds: they just ask to have instruments in which to invest, where the goodness of the companies’ commitments is in some way certified. This is how “Cac40 ESG” was born, a new index that includes 40 companies that can boast best practices on the environmental, social and governance front.

They have been identified the companies which, in addition to giving “satisfaction” to shareholders, can boast of best practices on the issues of combating climate change, have good relationships with staff, suppliers and territories in which the activity is carried out and have a transparent governance and open to comparison with the market.

These are the parameters that are defined internationally ESG, according to the English acronym Environmental, Social, Governance. Therefore, they are not only engaged in policies for the protection of the environment that mean more and more transition to activities that do not impact on the climate and the territory, but that are also attentive to relations with stakeholders and investors. This latter aspect becomes increasingly important, especially when companies are not public companies but have a strong controlling partner, so that all investors can have the tools to judge the actions of managers.

To read the full article on La Repubblica and other articles on sustainable finance.