Launched by the UN Secretary General in 2009 in New York, the Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative is a peer-to-peer learning platform for exploring how exchanges, in collaboration with investors, regulators, and companies, can enhance corporate transparency and ultimately performance on ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) issues and encourage sustainable investment. The SSE is organized by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UN Global Compact, the UN Environment Program Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).

Stock Exchanges are invited to make a voluntary public commitment to advancing sustainability, thereby becoming an "SSE Partner Exchange". The SSE's global network of stock exchanges is then called upon to engage in various SDG-themed work-streams coordinated by the SSE organizers. These work-streams take the form of three pillars of interrelated activities: high-level consensus building, research and capacity building. The initiative advances sustainability measures throughout its network by promoting the sharing, adoption and implementation of best practices.

The SSE promotes capacity building through technical guidance and capacity-building workshops, as well as "twinning" exercises that allow the transfer of management know-how between countries in the SSE network.

UNCTAD, the UN Global Compact, UNEP and the PRI (the Quartet) coordinate the SSE initiative. Each of these UN, or UN-backed, organizations is active in the area of promoting responsible investment and sustainable business practices and will work to facilitate the involvement of their complementary and overlapping constituencies in the work of the SSE initiative.

UNCTAD, UN Global Compact, UNEP, PRI. Plus more than 60 stock exchanges around the world that have made a voluntary commitment to promote sustainable business practices.