Luxembourg Launches World’s First Green Stock

Today, less than six weeks before COP22 , the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) becomes the first stock exchange globally to introduce a platform for green financial instruments. Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX) is for issuers who dedicate 100% of the raised funding to green investments. It will restrict access to those issuers who comply with stringent eligibility criteria, Dina Medland from Forbes writes.

Asked why he is doing this, Robert Scharfe, CEO of LuxSE says:

Why are we doing it ? We think the time is right. New issuance of green securities has taken off since COP21. When we look at the market it is good news that it is growing so fast, but is it growing fast enough? No, it is not. As the International Energy Agency (IEA) has estimated, the world needs $1 trillion a year until 2050 to finance a transition to low emissions.

LGX will immediately become home to the majority of the 114 green bonds listed at LuxSE, worth over $45 billion. Securities will have to state their nature clearly as ‘green’ or equivalent : ‘climate-aligned’, for example. Disclosure on use of proceeds will have to be compliant with standards laid out by the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) and the International Capital Market Association (ICMA), with whom the LGX concept has been developed. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has also been involved in its development.