In December 2014, Bursa Malaysia and FTSE launched an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) index i.e. FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia Index for the Malaysian market.

1. support investors in making ESG investments in Malaysian listed companies;
2. increase the profile and exposure of companies with leading ESG practices;
3. encourage best practice disclosure; and
4. support the transition to a lower carbon and more sustainable economy.

The FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia Index constituents are selected from the top 200 Malaysian stocks in the FTSE Bursa Malaysia EMAS Index, screened in accordance with the transparent and defined Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria. The index has been designed to identify Malaysian companies with recognised corporate responsibility practices, expanding the range of the benchmarks of the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Index Series for the Malaysian Markets.

Criteria: To be included in the index, companies need to meet a variety of ESG inclusion criteria. The criteria are consistent with the global ESG model that FTSE has developed and draw strongly from leading global disclosure frameworks such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).

Corporate Transparency: Assessments are based on publicly available data sources and therefore companies are encouraged to ensure that high quality data and information is provided publicly on their ESG practices and performance.

Index Governance: Index governance is aligned with that of the FTSE4Good and FTSE Bursa Malaysia Index Series. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Committee defines the eligible universe through the composition of the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Index Series, and the independent FTSE4Good Committee is responsible for overseeing the environmental, social and governance criteria.

For FTSE4Good ESG Model, please refer to here.

Further information is available on FTSE4Good’s website.