The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) on Tuesday launched its first Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) benchmark index ahead of the COP28 summit, the stock exchange said.

The FTSE ADX ESG Screened index was developed in collaboration with FTSE Russell, the exchange said in a statement.

The index will initially include 24 companies listed on the ADX market and constituents of the FTSE ADX General Index, the statement added.

It is designed to measure the relative ESG performance of companies based on public reports of emissions, environmental product innovation, human rights, shareholders and others, which will be measured on an annual basis.

(Reporting by Jyoti Narayan in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Louise Heavens)