Global ESG Universe Mapping: Stock Exchanges and Regulations (2026)

Introduction

The landscape of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) regulation has experienced unprecedented acceleration, transitioning from voluntary frameworks to strict, standardized reporting obligations. This mapping structures the ESG disclosure requirements of 37 major global stock exchanges, highlighting applicable regulations, scope, obligation levels, the status of Scope 3, and enforcement mechanisms.

As of May 2026, the picture across these 37 venues breaks down as 28 Mandatory regimes, 6 Phased rollouts, 2 Voluntary, and 1 Suspended (the US federal SEC climate rule, with California's SB 253 / SB 261 acting as a de facto mandatory layer for companies operating in the state).

One caveat runs through the whole map. ‘Listed’ usually means listed shares. Companies that only list bonds are often outside these regimes. Section 3.5 explains where.

The year 2026 marks a decisive turning point with the entry into force of numerous regulations aligned with the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards and the revision of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in Europe following the Omnibus package.

1. Regulatory Mapping by Stock Exchange

The table below presents a structured overview of ESG obligations for 37 major global stock exchanges, including the status of Scope 3 disclosure — the single most strategic indicator for buyers managing value-chain risk.

Scope, counts and obligation levels refer to issuers of listed shares. Issuers that only list bonds follow different rules depending on the venue. See section 3.5.

2. The Headline Numbers

Across the 37 stock exchanges mapped, ESG disclosure has effectively become the default operating standard for listed companies in 2026:

• 28 Mandatory regimes — full ESG / sustainability disclosure required for in-scope listed companies.
• 6 Phased regimes — disclosure being rolled out by company size, index membership, or fiscal year (Italy, Norway, Chile, Thailand, Pakistan, Egypt).
• 2 Voluntary regimes — TSX (Canada, after the CSA pause) and JSE (South Africa, comply-or-explain).
• 1 Suspended regime — the US federal SEC climate rule, partially compensated by California SB 253 / SB 261 for companies operating in the state.
• Scope 3 is mandatory in only 7 jurisdictions (mostly EU CSRD + ESRS-aligned), partial in India (BRSR Core), and voluntary almost everywhere else — including China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, the Gulf, and Africa.

3. Analysis of Global Regulatory Trends

3.1. Convergence Towards ISSB Standards

The 2025-2026 period confirms the massive adoption of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards, specifically IFRS S1 (general requirements) and IFRS S2 (climate), as the global baseline. Major jurisdictions in Asia-Pacific (Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Pakistan), Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia), the Gulf (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman) and Africa (Kenya) have integrated these standards into their national legislation, often taking a "climate-first" approach (HKEX, SGX, ASX, LSE).

3.2. The US Pullback and European Revision

Contrary to the global trend, the United States has experienced a significant pullback. In March 2025, the SEC ended its defense of its climate disclosure rules following legal challenges and a change in administration. The federal regime is therefore counted as Suspended in our mapping. In practice, California's SB 253 and SB 261 still pull roughly 2,600 large companies operating in the state into mandatory climate and emissions disclosure, creating a de facto sub-national mandatory layer on top of NYSE and Nasdaq.

Concurrently, the European Union adopted the "Omnibus" package, which significantly reduced the scope of the CSRD by raising thresholds (from 250 to 1,000 employees) and exempting listed SMEs, while pushing back deadlines for certain companies. Even after Omnibus, however, the EU stack — CSRD, CSDDD, EU Taxonomy, EUDR, CBAM — remains the single most demanding sustainability regime in the world, and the only one where Scope 3 is broadly mandatory for in-scope companies on Euronext, Deutsche Börse, Nasdaq Nordic, Borsa Italiana, Madrid (BME) and Warsaw (GPW).

3.3. Chinese Regulatory Integration and the Manufacturing Context

The systematic integration of Chinese regulations is crucial for understanding the global supply chain. In April 2024, the Shanghai (SSE), Shenzhen (SZSE), and Beijing (BSE) stock exchanges issued guidelines making sustainability reporting mandatory for large-cap and dual-listed companies — an estimated 579 companies in scope for the 2025 fiscal year, reporting in 2026.

“The guidelines mandate that companies listed on the SSE 180 Index, STAR 50 Index, SZSE 100 Index, and ChiNext Index, as well as those dual-listed domestically and internationally, prepare and publicly disclose sustainability reports for the 2025 fiscal year by April 30, 2026.”

Supply Chain Risk Alert: For international buyers subject to complex regulations like the CSRD, the CSDDD (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive), or the Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), the Chinese manufacturing context presents traceability challenges. Although large Chinese companies are beginning to report their Scope 1 and 2 emissions, Scope 3 remains voluntary in China — and in fact in 30 of the 37 venues mapped here. Buyers must maintain heightened vigilance regarding the risks associated with a lack of transparency in deep value chains, as European penalties (which can reach up to 5% of global revenue under the CSDDD) will apply regardless of the local standards of suppliers.

3.4. Gulf, Africa and Emerging Markets Catch-Up

One of the clearest signals from the 2026 mapping is the speed at which the Gulf and Africa have closed the gap. Tadawul (Saudi Arabia), DFM/ADX (UAE), QSE (Qatar), Boursa Kuwait, MSX (Oman) and NSE Kenya all now operate under mandatory ESG disclosure regimes aligned with ISSB IFRS S1/S2. South-East Asia is also accelerating, with IDX (Indonesia), PSE (Philippines), SET (Thailand) and PSX (Pakistan) moving from guidance to mandatory or phased mandatory status. The era of "ESG only matters in Europe" is definitively over.

3.5. Listed Bonds vs Listed Shares: The Debt Blind Spot

This map counts listed companies. But a listing is not always equity. Thousands of issuers access capital markets only through bonds. Are they caught by the same ESG rules? Short answer: not always. It depends on what triggers the obligation.

Two logics coexist. In size-triggered regimes, the obligation follows the company’s size and any security admitted to a regulated market — shares or bonds — can be the gateway. This applies in the EU under CSRD, the UK Companies Act regime, Switzerland and Australia. In listing-rule regimes, the obligation sits in exchange rules for equity issuers, leaving bond-only issuers outside. This applies in Hong Kong, Singapore, mainland China, India and Japan.

Europe: bonds count, with three exits

Post-Omnibus, CSRD covers issuers with equity or debt admitted to an EU regulated market when they exceed 1,000 employees and €450 million in turnover. The Omnibus directive was published in the Official Journal on 26 February 2026. A bond-only issuer of that size reports like a listed company. Three exits remain:

• MTF listings: bonds on a multilateral trading facility, such as Luxembourg Euro MTF or Euronext Growth, are not admitted to an EU regulated market, so the listing itself triggers nothing.
• Wholesale debt: non-EU issuers with only debt listed in denominations of at least €100,000 can fall outside scope under the Transparency Directive exemption.
• Size: below the post-Omnibus thresholds, a bond listing no longer brings a company into scope.

The United Kingdom has two layers. The FCA’s TCFD-aligned listing rule targets equity issuers, but the Companies Act climate disclosure regulations also cover UK companies with more than 500 employees and transferable securities — including bonds — admitted to a UK regulated market. In Switzerland, Art. 964a CO covers public-interest companies, including those with outstanding bonds, from 500 FTEs and CHF 20 million in assets or CHF 40 million in revenue.

Asia: bond-only issuers are mostly outside

• HKEX: Appendix C2 applies to equity issuers. Chapter 37 professional-investor debt issuers are not required to publish an ESG report.
• SGX: Rule 711A sits in the continuing obligations for equity issuers; the debt-securities chapter has no equivalent.
• SSE / SZSE / BSE: the 2024 guidelines target companies with listed shares, including specified indices and dual-listed firms. Bond-only issuers, including many state-owned enterprises and LGFVs, remain outside; green-bond disclosure is instrument-specific.
• India: BRSR is mandatory for the top 1,000 listed entities by market capitalisation, but voluntary for high-value debt-listed entities.
• Japan: SSBJ standards apply through the securities reports of Prime Market companies, an equity-listing segment.

Australia is the exception: AASB S2 is triggered by company size under the Corporations Act rather than by security type, so large debt-listed entities can be caught. In the United States, the question is currently moot: the SEC climate rule would have covered debt-only registrants but is no longer defended, while California SB 253 and SB 261 depend on revenue and doing business in California, not on listing.

For the other venues in the map, rules are generally written for companies with listed shares. Until confirmed venue by venue, treat bond-only issuers as likely out of scope.

The green-bond layer is different. The EU Green Bond Standard, applicable since December 2024, the ICMA Green Bond Principles and China’s Green Bond Principles regulate the instrument rather than the issuer. They require disclosure on use of proceeds and impact, not entity-wide emissions or Scope 3.

Why this matters for supply chains: many large Asian manufacturers and state-owned groups finance themselves through dim sum bonds in Hong Kong, the Chinese exchange bond market or Euro MTF listings. For a buyer subject to CSRD or CSDDD, ‘listed’ does not mean ‘disclosing’. Check whether a supplier lists shares or only debt. Do not assume the data exists — ask for it.

4. Enforcement and Assurance Levels

The requirement for external assurance (audit) is becoming the norm to guarantee the reliability of ESG data:

• Reasonable Assurance: India (SEBI) is a pioneer in requiring "reasonable assurance" (the highest level, equivalent to a financial audit) on key indicators of the BRSR Core for the Top 150 companies, expanding progressively.
• Limited Assurance: Europe (CSRD) and Australia (ASRS) impose limited assurance initially, with a planned transition to reasonable assurance by 2028-2030.
• Penalties: Financial regulators (FCA in the UK, ASIC in Australia, AMF in France, CMA in Saudi Arabia, SCA in the UAE) are now integrating ESG misstatements (greenwashing) into their scope of penalties for securities fraud.