Ed Tilly: All Exchanges Have a Role to Play in Sustainability

Ed Tilly speaks at the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative 10 Year Anniversary Event.

When we talk about how we define markets at Cboe, we’re not just talking about our innovative products or insightful benchmarks. We’re also talking about how we conduct ourselves and our business. How we strive to be a role model, not just in world class technology, customer service and leadership, but also in how we evolve and take thoughtful steps toward the future. As an observer of the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative, Cboe is working to make sustainability efforts more ingrained in our business model and collaborating with other exchange leaders on how exchanges can champion sustainability.

In our view, the type of exchange doesn’t matter — we’re all equipped to implement changes that can have a lasting impact. Ed Tilly, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, recently shared more about Cboe’s sustainability efforts in the Sustainable Stock Exchanges 10 Years of Impact and Progress report. Read the full article below and check out the report for fascinating data and insights on how the SSE has made an impact over the last decade.

In the corporate world, long-term solutions can be hard to justify in the present. With an obvious necessity to address immediate business concerns and an unrelenting focus on revenues and profitability, publicly listed companies have made it a top priority to act in the best interests of their shareholders – a strategy sometimes viewed as controversial.  

However, what the SSE, or Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative, has demonstrated over the last decade is that shareholder values and sustainable principles are not in conflict with one another – or at least, they don’t have to be. The goal of sustainability is to implement change today that can have a lasting impact on future generations. And no one can hold a company more accountable to this goal than the investing public.

Exchanges have always had a higher purpose to create and operate fair, trusted and orderly markets. As one of the world’s largest exchange holding companies, offering trading across multiple asset classes – options, futures, U.S. and European equities, exchange-traded products (ETPs) and global foreign exchange (FX) – Cboe Global Markets provides so much more than listings standards. We provide neutral marketplaces for enacting trades, empowering global investors of all sizes to make their own investment decisions. 

Investing isn’t simply about buying and holding a stock based on its listing standards or latest quarterly earnings report. It’s about constant participation and the ability to take action in our liquid markets. Market participants are acting and reacting in real-time and exchange-traded derivatives can provide greater efficiency and precision for a wide range of investment goals, including those focused on a company’s or industry’s ESG efforts. 

Our mission at Cboe is to define markets not only for those who participate in our economy today but for future generations that will rely on the utility and efficiency of the products and services we provide and the transparency and resiliency of our financial system for the next decade and beyond.

In 10 short years, the SSE has become a leading voice on sustainability, helping define exchanges’ roles in educating companies on how they can incorporate sustainable principles. Cboe is proud to participate in the SSE’s 10th anniversary celebration, and we cannot wait to see what the next decade brings. 

We look forward to working with the SSE to continue growing the ranks of SSE partner exchanges beyond traditional listing exchanges. Whether an exchange specializes in equities, ETFs, financial derivatives, commodity derivatives or FX products – all exchanges have a role to play in sustainability.

-Ed Tilly, Chairman, President and CEO of Cboe Global Markets

About the SSE:

The SSE initiative is a UN Partnership Programme organised by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UN Global Compact, UN Environment Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). The SSE’s mission is to provide a global platform for exploring how exchanges, in collaboration with investors, companies (issuers), regulators, policy makers and relevant international organizations, can enhance performance on environmental, social and corporate governance issues and encourage sustainable investment, including the financing of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The SSE seeks to achieve this mission through an integrated programme of conducting evidence-based policy analysis, facilitating a network and forum for multi-stakeholder consensus-building, and providing technical assistance and advisory services.