From voluntary to required: the story of ESG disclosure on the Qatar Stock Exchange

The story of environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) reflects a broader shift in the market: from encouragement, to expectation, to obligation. Each milestone has a lesson for anyone running a listed company or hoping to list one.

2016: a voluntary guide and 34 indicators

In 2016 QSE joined the UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative and pledged to issue voluntary guidelines for reporting ESG information. In December that year it published version 1.0 of its Guidance on ESG Reporting.

The guide was clear about its status: there was no regulatory requirement, and following it was entirely voluntary. It set out 34 key performance indicators: 9 environmental, 13 social, 10 governance and 2 on reporting in general. The environmental indicators included energy use, total carbon and greenhouse gas emissions in metric tons, and waste management.

2018 and 2021: a platform and an index

In December 2018 the exchange launched an online platform for listed companies to submit sustainability data against the 34 indicators. In November 2021, with MSCI, it launched the MSCI QSE 20 ESG Index, a tradable ESG index for the Qatari market, which the exchange said responded to investor demand.

That changed what disclosure meant. It was no longer a public relations report but an input into the decisions of investors who pick stocks on sustainability data.

2025: obligation through the governance code

In August 2025 the Qatar Financial Markets Authority’s Governance Code for Listed Companies took effect under QFMA Board Decision No. 5 of 2025. As Gulf Times reported, the code obliges companies to disclose sustainability, climate and corporate social responsibility reports. It also requires listed companies to use the international ISSB Standards, starting with the financial year beginning on or after 1 January 2026.

The SSE initiative now lists QSE among the exchanges where ESG reporting is a listing requirement.

The obligation covers companies on the main market; Venture Market companies may apply ISSB Standards but are not required to. QFMA guidance also requires external assurance of the sustainability report, which raises the bar for data quality.

What actually changed

• The reference: from 34 local indicators to two international standards that investors can read in any market.
• The timing: QFMA guidance does not allow sustainability disclosures to lag the financial statements in the first year.
• The depth: a list of numbers is no longer enough. Companies must explain how climate risks affect their strategy and cash flows.

We found no published official count of how many listed companies currently issue sustainability reports, so we give no figure here. The regulatory path, however, settles the question for every company on the main market.

What investors read in your report

An investor who screens stocks on ESG data is not looking for photos of tree planting. They look for four things: numbers that compare year on year, targets with dates, an explanation of how the board oversees risk, and consistency between the sustainability report and the financial statements. These are exactly the areas ISSB Standards are built on.

In that light, a weak report is a liability rather than an asset. Selective disclosure or inconsistent figures raise more questions than they answer, while a modest, honest report that admits its gaps and sets out a plan to close them builds more trust over time.

What this means for your company

Companies that followed the voluntary guide since 2016 now hold years of data, a real advantage in moving to ISSB. For those who have not started, the nine environmental indicators in the QSE guide are still a good checklist: energy, emissions, water and waste.

For family and private companies considering a listing, the message is plainer still: sustainability is now part of being ready to list. The book «Corporate Environmental Sustainability: Reports and Achievements» gives your company a place to present what it has achieved, and the national survey shows where it stands against its peers.

A practical first step this month: gather whatever environmental data your company has published before, compare it with the nine environmental indicators in the QSE guide, and list what is missing in measurement or documentation. That short list is the core of your first ISSB report, and it is what you will need when the external assurer asks for evidence behind each number.