Future Forward: Driving Long-Term Value

This summary highlights key initiatives from Nasdaq’s 2025 Sustainability Report, featuring our efforts in workforce engagement, ethical governance, environmental stewardship, and client and community support.

A Letter from Nasdaq's Chair & CEO

"As a leading technology platform powering the world’s economies, Nasdaq’s focus is on serving as the trusted fabric of the financial system. That means we are Future Forward – architecting the world’s modern markets, powering the innovation economy, and building trust in the financial system."

Adena Friedman, Chair & CEO, Nasdaq Read the Full Letter

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

"Our sustainability approach is closely tied to how we think about long-term value across the company. Being “Future Forward” means aligning our work with the forces shaping the global financial system and reinforcing its transparency and resilience."

Sarah Youngwood, EVP & CFO, Nasdaq

Read the Full Q&A ->

Deliver Long-Term Value to Stakeholders

Our Approach to Sustainability

Our sustainability strategy is an evolution of our core purpose, designed to deliver long‑term value to our clients, colleagues, and communities. It guides how we partner with our stakeholders to power a more resilient and inclusive global economy. We focus on the sustainability topics that are most critical to our business and stakeholders—from advancing climate and technology solutions to championing transparent governance and empowering our workforce.

“Our approach to sustainability is focused on creating lasting value and is grounded in Nasdaq’s purpose to empower economic opportunity. We see sustainability not as a separate function, but as integral to our role as a trusted partner to our clients and a foundational part of the financial system."

Nina Eisenman, Vice President, Head of Corporate Sustainability Strategy and Reporting, Nasdaq

Our Sustainability Ratings

Score	Ratings Agency	Highlights	Score Range
AA	Image	Highest scoring range for Corporate Governance, placing us in the Leader category and indicating that our corporate governance practices are well aligned with shareholder interests	AAA-CCC
Environment: 1 Social: 1 Governance: 2	Image	Our QualityScores indicate a high level of environmental and social disclosure, and a low governance risk	1–10 (1 = lowest risk)
61 94^th percentile	Image	Included in the Dow Jones Best-in-Class World Index for the second consecutive year and the Dow Jones Best-in-Class North America Index for the tenth consecutive year	0–100 (100 = best)
A	Image	Climate Change 2025 A List – Score is based on the comprehensiveness of disclosure, awareness and management of environmental risks, and demonstration of environmental leadership	A-D
A	Image	Supplier Engagement Assessment 2025 A List – Recognized for our efforts to measure and reduce climate risk within our supply chain	A-D
75 (Silver) 91^st percentile	Image	Awarded a Silver Medal as recognition for the top 15% of organizations for sustainability performance	0–100 (100 = best)
14.9^*	Image	Low risk of experiencing significant financial impacts from sustainability factors	0–10 (negligible risk) 10–20 (low risk) 20–30 (medium risk) 30–40 (high risk) 40+ (severe risk)

Note: Ratings are as of April 30, 2026. 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 ©2026 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.

2025 Highlights Include:

AI On the Business

AI In the Product

Dedicated AI Integration Team

Established a dedicated AI integration team to streamline implementation and accelerate adoption across business functions.

AI Tools for Employees

Upskilled employees with AI tools to improve decision making, productivity, and execution quality

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

Implemented internal Model Context Protocol (MCP) tools, agent-driven workflows, and deep research

Internal GenAI Platform

Enhanced internal GenAI Platform and launched employee‑led AI‑powered agent initiatives

NASDHACK’25

Hosted NASDHACK’25 where participant employees leveraged Nasdaq’s GenAI Platform to build AI agents for high-code and no-code hackathon projects

Community of "AI Champions”

Founded the “AI Champions” community to support the implementation of AI tools and best practices across the organization

Nasdaq Verafin

Enhanced Nasdaq Verafin with automation and agentic AI for evolving regulations and operational compliance efficiency

Nasdaq AxiomSL

Embedded advanced AI in AxiomSL, including generative assistants and ML analytics, to boost productivity, predictive insight, and regulatory agility

Nasdaq Calypso

Integrated AI features into our Calypso solution to meet the operational and analytical needs of today’s financial institutions

Market Surveillance Business

Advanced AI, machine learning, and market data in our market surveillance business to detect market abuse, streamline investigations, and improve efficiency while reducing false positives

Nasdaq Eqlipse

Enhanced our Eqlipse platform with AI, delivering a cloud native, end-to-end trade lifecycle foundation for advanced analytics and automation

Nasdaq Lens

Evolved our AI-powered platform, Nasdaq Lens, to enhance research, benchmarking, and disclosure drafting to help organizations stay aligned, compliant, and efficient

Nasdaq Boardvantage

Delivered AI‑powered workflows in Nasdaq Boardvantage, saving time for directors and governance teams

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

SDG 8: Decent Work & Economic Growth

Listings – U.S.

Provide all-inclusive fee structure, encouraging growth of SMEs
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

Nine companies transferred from Nasdaq’s First North Growth Market to Nasdaq’s Main Market in 2025

Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center

Delivered over 16,000 touchpoints to entrepreneurs across over 100 countries, including emerging economies

SDG 9: Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure

Capital Markets Technology

Advanced our partnership with AWS to deliver cloud‑based infrastructure, supporting market modernization and enhancing access for international investors

SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

Regulatory Technology

Selected by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to modernize market oversight through automated alerts and cross‑market analytics across traditional and digital asset classes

Financial Crime Management Technology

Introduced Agentic AI Workforce to automate high‑volume anti‑money laundering compliance tasks for banks

SDG 12: Responsible Consumption & Production

Sustainability Solutions

Sustainability & Climate Advisory launched a team to specifically support clients with advanced climate strategy, GHG accounting, and decarbonization needs
Expanded Nasdaq Metrio’s regulatory capabilities to deliver CSRD workflows aligned to ESRS

SDG 13: Climate Action

Decarbonization & Climate Change Strategy

Continued our climate strategy and green certifications
Maintained our carbon neutrality program and made progress against our science-based targets

Evaluating & Engaging Our Supply Chain

Expanded our engagement with our top suppliers encouraging them to disclose their environmental data through CDP’s Climate Change survey

Puro.earth

Reached 657K CO₂ Removal Certificates issued on behalf of suppliers, up 62% from 2024
109 certified projects from 22 countries

Nasdaq Sustainable Debt Market

> €88 billion of total listed outstanding sustainable debt volume on (+21% from 2024)

Nasdaq Sustainable Bond Network

> 2,200 of total issuers (+18% from 2024)

SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Continued Our Memberships With:

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

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