Romanian capital market will end up with transparent ESG (Environmental, Social, Corporate Governance) standards and to the liking of investors, within a reasonable time, said, in a specialized forum, Adrian Tănase, CEO of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB).

“It takes a lot of education for issuers in terms of financial reporting. We had workshops a year ago to provide first-hand guidance on these reports. Interest has been very high and there are a lot of things to do. We have seen many market stakeholders who have been involved in these steps and here I would mention the Guide for Responsible Business, launched by ARIR together with Innova. We have a collaboration with the Government to launch a Reporting Guideline, which I believe we will have available to investors in the market in January 2022. There are very, very good developments and I think things are moving quite fast. We are glad that Envisia, one of the largest business schools in Romania, is also involved. In order to be able to get where we want, where issuers understand what this ESG means and what are the benefits of this ESG score, I think it is very important that we all align in the same direction and not have steps that deviate from the general direction. I think we are somehow in this trend. I think that a lot of things have been done in the last year and I am sure that we will reach to have in the Romanian capital market some transparent ESG standards and to the liking of investors, in a reasonable time,” said Tănase, according to Agerpres.

BVB launched, in the autumn of 2020, the first ESG project on the local capital market, in order to pursue the supply of quality ESG information for listed companies. Thus, through Sustainalytics’ ESG risk ratings, the objectives of the Exchange are to provide an initial assessment to most local issuers, to promote responsible investment and to highlight the importance of ESG standards among local participants.

The initiative also aims to encourage local companies to align their standards with ESG best practices, which have seen spectacular growth globally in recent years.