Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) and Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) hosted a seminar, primarily aimed at listed companies, to assist in the understanding of the ratings methodology underlying the MSCI QSE 20 ESG Index. The joint index, launched in November 2021, is designed to identify the top 20 securities within the MSCI Qatar IMI Index that demonstrate the best Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) profile.

ESG through a narrow focus has its detractors but sustainability more broadly is already an integral part of the global capital markets’ infrastructure and reporting on sustainability matters is now part of the capital allocation decision-making process.

Acting Chief Executive Officer of QSE Abdul Aziz Nasser Al Emadi, said, “We have been consistently engaged with corporates over the last five years as part of a dedicated awareness program around sustainability and effective non-financial reporting.

“Today’s seminar is another element of our ongoing commitment to ensuring listed companies have the knowledge necessary to implement best practice in due course. We are pleased to be working with MSCI to increase the understanding of such products and services, he added.” For her part, Global Head of Corporate ESG and Climate Solutions Beth Byington said that MSCI is responding to investor demand with services around ESG and sustainability. Sustainability is a topic that leads to constructive management-investor dialogue.” She went on saying “MSCI has set out to increase our own issuer interaction rate in this area to assist corporates in understanding how that dialogue can be most effectively conducted. Issuer engagement in the emerging markets is now at 50 percent and today’s event with QSE listed companies is part of that process.”

Source: Qatar News Agency