The German stock exchange, Deutsche Börse, is to launch a sustainable finance initiative in May with the aim of establishing new interdisciplinary structures for sustainable entrepreneurship along with some 100 of the financial centre's key participants in order to explore new business areas.

The stock exchange group based in Frankfurt said that banks, financial institutions, rating and ranking agencies, investors, insurance companies, data providers and representatives from the public, academic, NGO and church sectors would be involved.

The initiative is intended to serve as a platform for dialogue regarding all issues concerning the financial system's future viability and to launch specific initiatives and projects involving all players, Deutsche Börse said. It will focus on aspects such as to what extent capital markets promote innovative investment strategies and how to establish medium to long-term opportunity and risk management as a means of ensuring systemic stability. There will be a launch conference discussing these issues on 23rd May.

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Deutsche Börse added that the importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) data to medium to long-term prospects of a company's success had been growing steadily since the financial crisis. More and more, investors, clients, analysts and regulators were expressly demanding that companies also publish ESG data in addition to their traditional key financial reporting.

Carsten Kengeter, Deutsche Börse chief executive, said: “The entire financial world is facing a vast transformation process. As an international infrastructure provider based in Frankfurt, we believe it is also our responsibility to bring all relevant parties together. In addition, we want to contribute driving sustainable progress and innovation forward with this initiative.”

Speaking in a video interview for the company's website Kengeter highlighted the various international initiatives - such as the United Nations Sustainable Goals, the work of the G20 and the Paris climate change agreement which has given impetus to the Deutsche Börse's initiative.