Sustainability indices in developing markets : a study about Borsa Istanbul sustainability index

Abstract

Sustainability is currently a very popular topic in the world of business. This paper explores the concept of sustainable investment, its evolution, the role of stock exchanges in corporate sustainability, sustainability indices both in developed and developing markets and literature regarding sustainable investing performance. The main purpose of the study is to introduce Borsa İstanbul Sustainability Index and to study its performance. Wilcoxon test is used to test the differences in return of the index companies before and after the launch of the index. The results obtained revealed that most of the companies suffered a decrease in return after being included in the index. Also, paired samples t-test is used to explore the differences in performance between BIST Sustainability Index and other benchmark indices. The results showed no statistically significant difference between BIST Sustainability index and other benchmark indices.