Sustainability And The Listing Regime

EDM number 1417 in 2002-03, proposed by Tony Colman on 16/06/2003.

That this House welcomes the recommendation made in Open Disclosure: Sustainability and the Listing Regime, written by Mark Mansley of Claros Consulting, that the UKLA should conduct a review of the listing rules to examine the case for the inclusion of social and environmental information; agrees that information disclosure is at the core of the listing process and is essential for the fair and efficient functioning of markets and that information disclosure is rightly governed by the listing rules to ensure documents contain 'all such information as investors and their professional advisers would reasonably require'; believes that recent events such as the listing of Xstrata plc underline the need for adequate disclosure of material sustainability issues; and notes that without such disclosure investors cannot be sure they are taking all financial factors into account, nor that they are meeting their fiduciary responsibilities, or the needs of their clients and that while the current listing regime in theory permits environmental and social disclosure it does little to encourage or require it in practice.

This motion has been signed by a total of 36 MPs.