Sustainability Indices in Latin America: Can Financial Markets Push for CSR?

Abstract

The chapter describes the recent history of Sustainability Indices in three Latin American countries: Brazil, Mexico, and Chile. In these countries, local Stock Exchanges have been recently launching their own Sustainability Indices. This ongoing trend may indicate a particular way of addressing Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) in the region. The chapter relies on secondary data, mainly documents published by the Stock Exchanges themselves, and on some selected academic and practitioner oriented articles. All three countries present some common features. In all cases, local stock markets launched Sustainability Indices, and their composition has been publicly available from the beginning. Consequently, SRI is now developing in the region in a different way from that of developed markets. The chapter is based on secondary data only. Further research may involve interviews and surveys with different stakeholders (i.e., investors, quoted companies, public officials). The illustration of a different way of developing an SRI market may help public officials and investors from other countries, either in Latin America or elsewhere, who intend to promote SRI. There are few studies on SRI in Latin America, and comparative research between different countries in the region is still rare.

Citation

Zicari, A. (2017), "Sustainability Indices in Latin America: Can Financial Markets Push for CSR?", Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance (Developments in Corporate Governance and Responsibility, Vol. 11), Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 3-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2043-052320170000011001