Capital Group, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Cboe Europe, Citi, Cowen, Fidelity International, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Goodbody, Northern Trust, Verne Global, and Wellington Management join Sustainable Trading (ST).
A non-profit membership network incorporated in the United Kingdom and launched in February 2022 with 30 founding members, including State Street Global Advisors, Bank of America, Credit Suisse, and the London Stock Exchange Group, to practice ESG measures within the financial markets trading industry.
The network works to build practical solutions to industry-specific ESG issues. Members of the trading network consider the environmental impact of how the financial trading industry creates, maintains, and operates trading infrastructure, focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion, employee well-being, engagement with communities, and a stakeholder oriented approach to enterprise governance.
The 11 firms joining the network demonstrate a collective commitment to driving positive ESG change in their businesses and across the industry.
The ST will organize support specialist working groups and motivate experts to develop a set of ESG best practices specific to certain trading services, resulting in ESG improvements to the operation of the trading service. The process is set to be achieved through open dialogue, education, and transparent disclosures.
Sustainable Trading will oversee a benchmarking framework enabling self-certification and transparency, allowing firms to compare their sustainability and ESG rank against the rest of the market, facilitating continuous improvement for ESG best practices.
There are many green initiatives and investment activities in finance related to sustainability, but the ST focuses on trading operations that make the trading process more sustainable. The market looks at ST to collaborate the buyer and the seller side of the trading platforms and incorporate the providers, vendors, consultants, and technology firms that support the businesses. The industry expects ST to align with the sector-specific global ESG goals.