Green rings on navy background. Nasdaq 2024 Sustainability Report

Nasdaq 2024 Summary Sustainability Report

Powering Resilient Growth

This summary highlights key initiatives from Nasdaq’s 2024 Sustainability Report, featuring our efforts in workforce engagement, ethical governance, environmental stewardship, and client and community support. For details see our full 2024 Sustainability and TCFD Report.

A Letter from Adena Friedman,
Nasdaq Chair & CEO

"I am proud of Nasdaq’s unwavering commitment to powering resilient growth across the global economy. Over the course of the year, we made substantial progress on our vision to be the trusted fabric of the world’s financial system by helping our clients solve their most complex challenges."

Q&A with Nasdaq’s CFO and Co-Chair of the Corporate Sustainability Steering Committee

Sarah Youngwood

Nasdaq’s clients across the financial system face an increasingly complex operating environment as they navigate regulatory pressures, disparate reporting requirements, and rising compliance costs. From our position at the intersection of technology and the financial system, we play a unique role in helping our clients navigate these evolving requirements as they execute their own sustainability objectives and strategies.

Nasdaq leverages technologies including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to drive better outcomes for clients and enhance global market resiliency, performance, scalability, and liquidity. In 2024, Nasdaq demonstrated its commitment to innovation and technology by integrating generative AI into its market surveillance offering, enhancing regulatory compliance through AI and data science, and streamlining dual listing processes. 

AI In the Product and On the Business

Enhanced Verafin’s robust suite of AI based Targeted Typology Analytics, with new detection capabilities for terrorist financing and drug trafficking activity

Enhanced our global market surveillance offering with Generative AI

Introduced AI-powered features in Nasdaq Boardvantage® through a collaboration with Microsoft

In partnership with AWS, we announced a modernization blueprint to drive the benefits of cloud into local market infrastructures

Deliver Long-Term Value to Stakeholders

Our Strategic Approach to Sustainability

Nasdaq’s approach to sustainability is focused both internally – by managing our businesses’ sustainability-related risks and opportunities and the corresponding impact we have as an organization across our own operations – and externally – by the impact we have on the world through the focused sustainability products and services that support our clients’ objectives, as well as the wider economic and societal impact across other key parts of our business and operations.

Corporate Sustainability


Solidify

 

Solidify business resilience and drive sustainable growth by managing and reducing long-term risks and advancing sustainability practices across our organization.

 

Attract and retain a motivated workforce by fostering an engaging workplace culture where all employees can achieve their full potential.

 

Maintain robust corporate governance policies and practices.

 

Minimize our environmental footprint, meet our net-zero goals, and solidify our business against long-term climate risks.

External Impact


Support
Enable

 

Support our clients by providing relevant insights and innovative solutions designed to help them navigate the evolving sustainability ecosystem.


Sustainability Solutions


Our future-forward expertise, tools, and technologies empower purpose and drive impact, helping build sustainable markets and resilient businesses. From reporting tools and data feeds to indices and sustainable bonds, we support our clients’ sustainability strategies with innovative offerings designed to increase transparency and reduce friction.

 

Enable positive outcomes through the economic and societal impact inherent to the solutions and services of our wider business.


Financial Technology Solutions & Listings Services


We provide mission-critical capital markets, regulatory, and financial crime management technology solutions to the financial services industry while advancing industrywide modernization.


We serve as a resource for companies of all sizes, offering small, medium, and large-cap issuers customized programming and advocacy while fostering an ecosystem for economic and financial progress.


Purpose


Our purpose-led initiatives drive economic progress and impact across the communities we serve.

 

Nina Eisenman Headshot

"We solidify our own business resilience and deliver long-term value to our stakeholders by managing our climate-related risks and advancing sustainable business practices across our entire organization."

Our Support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Nasdaq’s public commitment to sustainable development and socially responsible business practices began in 2012 at the Rio+20 conference, where Nasdaq was one of five founding signatories to the UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative. Since 2012, Nasdaq has also been a proud participant of the UN Global Compact (UNGC), a non-binding pact that encourages businesses to adopt sustainable and socially responsible practices, report on their progress, and advance the achievement of the SDGs.

The SDGs are 17 global goals and 169 targets adopted by all UN Member States in 2015 with the aim of achieving a better and more sustainable future for all. Nasdaq’s commitment to the SDGs has been recognized by investment firms, including Macquarie for meeting qualifications for inclusion in SDG-focused funds.

Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

Listings – U.S.

  • Provide all-inclusive fee structure, encouraging growth of SMEs
  • Hosted annual Small Cap Forum, focused on key topics and issues that impact small- and micro-cap companies
  • Provided curated content specifically for the SME community through Nasdaq Amplify, including timely articles, editorials, and market and regulatory updates

First North Growth Market – Nordics

  • Seven companies transferred from Nasdaq’s First North Growth Market to Nasdaq’s Main Market in 2024

Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center

  • Empowered over 10,000 entrepreneurs and supported small businesses across 90 countries

Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

Capital Markets Technology

  • Launched a Latin American Markets Study focused on evaluating the landscape with aims to unlock and advance international capital flows into the region 

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

Sustainability Solutions

  • Added Sustainable Lens® functionality in Nasdaq Metrio’s Framework & Disclosure Management module
  • Expanded Nasdaq Metrio™ carbon accounting capabilities to help clients calculate and track their emissions to better understand their carbon footprint

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

Decarbonization & Climate Strategy

  • Extended our purchase on 100% renewable electricity to cover Adenza operations

Evaluating and Engaging Our Supply Chain

  • As a CDP Supply Chain corporate member, we requested our top suppliers disclose their environmental data through CDP’s Climate Change survey 

  • Surpassed our goal by requesting over 200 suppliers respond to the CDP survey 

Sustainability Solutions

  • Hosted second annual NY Climate Week Conference at MarketSite 

  • Hosted inaugural San Francisco Climate Week Conference 

Nasdaq Sustainable Debt Market

  • Over €70 billion of total listed outstanding sustainable debt volume on NSDM, (up from €61.8B in 2023) 

Nasdaq Sustainable Bond Network

  • 1,800+ of total issuers on NSBN (up from ~1,720 in 2023) 

Capital Markets Technology

  • Launched a Global Carbon Market Survey evaluating the process and technology challenges and solutions to help carbon markets institutionalize 

Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

Memberships

  • Accounting for Sustainability (A4S)

  • Business Roundtable (BRT) “Purpose of a Corporation” 

  • CDP Supply Chain 

  • Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) 

  • Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) Forum 

  • United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) 

  • United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) 

  • United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchange (SSE) Initiative 

  • United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchange (SSE) Advisory Group on Carbon Markets  

  • World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) – Sustainability Working Group 

Select Awards & Recognition

Our Sustainability-Related Ratings

Current ScoreHighlightsScore Range
AAHighest scoring range for Corporate Governance, placing us in the Leader category and indicating that our corporate governance practices are well aligned with shareholder interestsAAA–CCC
Current ScoreHighlightsScore Range

Environment: 1

Social: 1

Governance: 1

Our QualityScores indicate a high level of environmental and social disclosure, and a low governance risk 1–10 (1 = lowest risk)
Current ScoreHighlightsScore Range

65

97th percentile

Included in the Dow Jones Best-in-Class World Index for the first time
Included in the Dow Jones Best-in-Class North America Index for the ninth consecutive year
Included in S&P Global’s Sustainability Yearbook 2024
0–100 (100 = best)
Current ScoreHighlightsScore Range
BScore is based on the comprehensiveness of disclosure, awareness and management of environmental risks, and demonstration of environmental leadership
CDP Supplier Engagement Assessment (SEA) 2024 A-list – recognized for our efforts to measure and reduce climate risk within our supply chain
AAA–CCC
Current ScoreHighlightsScore Range

70 (Silver)

89th percentile

EcoVadis Silver Medal0–100 (100 = best)
Current ScoreHighlightsScore Range
13.2*Low risk of experiencing significant financial impacts from ESG factors0–10 (negligible risk)
10–20 (low risk)
20–30 (medium risk)
30–40 (high risk)
40+ (severe risk)

Note: Ratings are as of April 1, 2025. The use by Nasdaq of any MSCI ESG Research LLC or its affiliates (“MSCI”) data and the use of the MSCI logos, trademarks, service marks, or names herein, do not constitute a sponsorship, endorsement, recommendation, or promotion of Nasdaq by MSCI. MSCI services and data are the property of MSCI or its information providers and are provided ’as-is’ and without warranty. MSCI names and logos are trademarks or service marks of MSCI.

*Copyright ©2024 Morningstar Sustainalytics. All rights reserved. This Sustainability Report contains information developed by Sustainalytics. Such information and data are proprietary of Sustainalytics and/or its third-party suppliers (Third Party Data) and are provided for informational purposes only. They do not constitute an endorsement of any product or project, nor any investment advice and are not warranted to be complete, timely, accurate, or suitable for a particular purpose. Their use is subject to conditions available at https://www.sustainalytics.com/legal-disclaimers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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