Living and working in Jersey we are lucky to be able appreciate the wonder of our natural world on a daily basis. However, we are also constantly reminded of the fragility of the environment around us, both locally and globally.

The Government of Jersey has responded by announcing a plan for the island to be carbon neutral by 2030. At the same time, Jersey Finance has launched a sustainable finance strategy, Jersey for Good – A Sustainable Future, with the aim of leveraging expertise and capital to support the transition to an environmentally and socially sustainable global economy.

At The International Stock Exchange (TISE), we are delighted to complement those initiatives with some of our own which, together, put Jersey among the leading centres for the development of sustainable finance. The success of these initiatives is hugely important given the “code red” warning we all received in the form of August’s report from Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which was released ahead of the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference, COP 26.

UN SSE

At their heart, stock exchanges, such as TISE, bring together companies who issue securities, whether bonds, equities or other instruments, and investors who want to invest and trade in those investments. In doing so, exchanges are undertaking various initiatives to help the fight against global climate change but ultimately our key role is to facilitate the flow of capital into sustainable investments.

TISE has recently joined the United Nations’ Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative (UN SSE), which encourages the allocation of capital into sustainable investments. UN SSE is a UN Partnership Programme whose mission is to provide a global platform for exploring how exchanges, in collaboration with investors, companies (issuers), regulators, policymakers and relevant international organisations, can encourage sustainable investment, including the financing of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Our CEO, Cees Vermaas, recently had the pleasure of formally pledging TISE’s commitment to promoting sustainability performance and transparency in the capital markets during correspondence with the UN Secretary General, António Guterres. This was part of TISE’s admission to UN SSE where we are now one of the 108 Partner Exchanges undertaking initiatives to facilitate the flow of capital into sustainable investments.

TISE Sustainable

Membership of the UN SSE puts us at the heart of global efforts to encourage sustainable investment and this is now backed by our new sustainable market segment, TISE Sustainable. The segment as a comprehensive and reputable enabler for increased capital allocation towards environmental, social or sustainable activities. TISE Sustainable is Europe’s most comprehensive sustainable market segment and provides qualifying issuers and their securities with enhanced connectivity, credibility, transparency and visibility among investors.

With a straightforward application process and no additional fee, the segment is available to all TISE-listed issuers – including both bond and equity issuers – who comply with at least one recognised framework or rating. Investors can take comfort from the fact that the displayed issuers must have demonstrated their compliance to qualify for inclusion and that they are undertaking ongoing public sustainability reporting.

TISE Sustainable was launched in July and has quickly gained traction among issuers, with Jersey-based Listing Agents leading the way in introducing new admissions to the segment. Examples include listings from the world’s largest recycler of aluminium, Novelis, the largest sustainable property developer in the UK, Canary Wharf Group, and Pfleiderer, a German headquartered company with 125 years’ history of sustainably manufacturing wood products.

QIBM

TISE Sustainable is now an integral part of our offering at TISE, which is a major European professional bond market. To further enhance this position, in August, we launched our new Qualified Investor Bond Market (QIBM) which is a dedicated exchange offering for the listing of bonds marketed to ‘qualified investors’ and it provides several compelling differentiators to other European exchanges.

Following the introduction of the QIBM, which came on the back of a record first half of the year, we have also had a record August for new listings. There were 109 newly listed securities during the month, which is more than any other August since the Exchange was established in 1998. It means that there are now more than 3,000 securities, with a total value of more than £450 billion, listed on TISE.

Among both bond and equity listings, we are seeing an increasing trend towards more green, social and sustainable issuances and as such, a growing demand for not just admission to the Official List but also for prominence among peers on TISE Sustainable.

Jersey’s sustainable future

What we have seen in the last few years is a significant increase in capital allocation towards green and sustainable finance and although ultimately it does remain a small proportion of total investment mandates, it is clearly an area of potentially huge growth.

At the same time, there has been a significant maturing of the sector, for example through the development frameworks and ratings. These changes have been accelerated by the pandemic, which has also broadened the focus of market participants from a concentration on the environment to a more holistic view of sustainability.

I expect that following the IPCC report and COP 26, exchanges will continue to play an increased and vital role in ensuring the efficient financing of green, social and sustainable initiatives.

At TISE we will continue to explore initiatives which will assist in enhancing sustainable investment by liaising with our peers and other market participants through forums such as the UN SSE, as well as through our memberships of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), as well as the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) and the International Capital Market Association (ICMA).

Recognitions and memberships are hugely important in putting a stock exchange, such as TISE, at the heart of policy making decisions on the future of capital markets. TISE’s work complements Jersey’s other local and international initiatives and we intend to play a full role in helping to secure a sustainable future for our island and our planet.