Bahrain Bourse issues environmental and social governance guidelines

TDT | Manama

Bahrain Bourse (BHB) has announced that it has issued Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) voluntary reporting guidelines for listed companies. These are part of its efforts to promote sustainability and transparency in Bahrain’s capital market.

The guidelines aim to increase awareness about the importance of ESG reporting and to assist listed companies in navigating the evolving standards as well as addressing such issues in their reporting to meet the requirements of institutional investors. Bahrain Bourse chief executive Shaikh Khalifa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said that “investors can utilise (this information) to make informed and responsible investment decisions.”

The guidelines explain the key regional and international drivers for adoption of ESG reporting. While implementation of the ESG guidelines is voluntary, it encourages listed companies to disclose a set of 32 ESG metrics and indicators.

These indicators align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and recommendations as per the standard of the Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative, the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) and Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI).

Bahrain Bourse will provide the necessary resources to support listed companies through regular trainings and deploying customized group, and individual engagement sessions while also promoting responsible investment practices among investors.

“As a partner exchange member of the SSE initiative and a member of the WFE, Bahrain Bourse has made a formal commitment to drive sustainability in the capital market of Bahrain,” said Shaikh Khalifa.

“We look forward to enhancing transparency and disclosure in Bahrain’s capital market by supporting listed companies’ alignment with Bahrain Economic Vision 2030 and the UN SDGs.” Bahrain Bourse officially joined the United Nations SSE initiative in February 2019 to demonstrate its commitment to promote sustainable and transparent capital markets in cooperation with listed companies, investors, and other stakeholders.

Earlier this year, Bahrain Bourse had deployed a workshop on sustainability to support listed companies’ sustainability reporting journey, and assist companies to gain a better understanding of the importance of ESG disclosure for meeting the growing investors’ demand. Bahrain Bourse had also reported on its own ESG performance for the first time in its 2019 Annual Report.