Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., a leading global provider of data, technology and market infrastructure, released the company’s annual sustainability report, which includes ESG highlights from the last year and outlines the ways in which ICE continues to advance its ESG initiatives. ICE issued its first sustainability report in 2016 and has continued to release a new report each year for the past seven years.

“The needs of our stakeholders remain key drivers of everything we do at ICE,” said Jeffrey Sprecher, Founder, Chair, and CEO of ICE. “In the same way we’re focused on bringing efficiencies to the markets we serve, we also look at ways to expand transparency into our own business, and the new disclosures and reporting formats help deliver on that goal.”

ICE’s sustainability report includes several new features and updates from 2021, including:

• ICE continued to supplement its disclosures with reporting frameworks including Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (SASB) metrics, a Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) report, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
• ICE published a stand-alone TCFD report, which includes additional disclosures related to the management of climate-related risks, governance structures for overseeing risk management and strategic opportunities, as well as metrics, targets, and analysis for measuring success against climate goals.
• ICE reported all relevant Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, including disclosure of Scope 3 categories 1, 2 and 15. The addition of these Scope 3 emissions data provides a more holistic view into the company’s overall emissions footprint and value chain. ICE continues to focus on mitigating its greenhouse gas footprint through emissions reductions and purchases of renewable energy and carbon credits.
• ICE increased the diversity of its Board of Directors, which now consists of 60% women and 30% persons of color as of May 2022.

See related article: Intercontinental Exchange and McLaren Racing Launch New Partnership With Amplified Focus on Sustainability and Diversity

In addition to the steps ICE is taking to address ESG risks related to its operations, the company has a broad range of opportunities to make a positive impact through its sustainability finance products and services, including:

• ICE launched a nature-based solutions carbon credit futures contract in May 2022, which allows the market to value natural assets in the agriculture, forestry, and other land use sectors and facilitate the flow of capital to projects that can help the world meet its commitments to climate reduction.
• ICE announced the launch of the NYSE Sustainability Advisory Council in May 2022. The council, which met for the first time in June, brings together select sustainability leaders within the NYSE community of more than 2,400 listed companies to collectively identify and share global best practices that address ESG issues.
• ICE announced new additions to its sustainable finance portfolio of products, including the acquisition of Urgentem, a provider of global corporate emissions and climate transition data that provides ESG attributes and indicators for thousands of publicly traded companies globally. ICE also launched the ICE ESG Geo-Analyzer, an on-demand platform that leverages ICE’s geospatial data modelling to provide climate risk and social impact data and analytics for properties and communities throughout the U.S.

Source: Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.