Nasdaq Cut CO2 Footprint to Zero, Offsetting Emissions Including NYC MarketSite Tower
Nasdaq, Inc. has reached a zero-carbon footprint within its own corporation, a move symbolizing its commitment to helping clients with a wide range of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues.
“We don’t have a tremendous carbon footprint ourselves, but we are committed to helping our clients by creating products and services related to ESG,” Evan Harvey, Global Head of Sustainability at Nasdaq told CorpGov in an interview.
Nasdaq’s carbon emissions consist of sources such as data center and office electricity usage along with employee air travel. Such emissions can be managed by negotiating with landlords who pump in green energy or by purchasing carbon offsets.
In the case of the MarketSite Tower in Times Square, Nasdaq purchased renewable energy certificates from wind farms to offset the energy it consumes from the grid. In other instances, such as Nasdaq’s data center in Sweden, facilities actually run on entirely green energy sources and don’t have a carbon footprint.
Outside of Nasdaq’s own walls, it has introduced a wide array of services to clients dedicated to ESG issues. One is the ESG Reporting Guide, which Nasdaq published in May 2019 to support public and private companies that aim to incorporate ESG reporting into their existing reporting processes.
“We help clients with both reporting on ESG and finding the best ways to manage data in-house,” Mr. Harvey said. “Investors, regulators – everyone is interested in ESG. There’s a real thirst in the marketplace for information and we help clients with engagement and transparency.”
In late 2018, launched futures based on the OMXS30 ESG Responsible index, creating the first exchange listed and ESG compliant index future in the world. Trading grew rapidly, with the futures hitting the 1 million contract milestone within a year.
Nasdaq also last year launched the Nasdaq Center for Corporate Governance, an information and research platform dedicated to supporting boards, senior executives, and governance professionals at public, private, and nonprofit organizations. Nasdaq also acquired Center for Board Excellence (CBE), a privately-held provider of corporate governance and compliance software, a move reflecting a continued push to provide technology solutions to boardrooms. In November, Nasdaq, ICR, and CorpGov hosted the 2019 Corporate Governance Forum, which included a publication of six interviews available here.
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