Japan May 2022 Supplement

Japan’s environmental, social and governance bond market has gone from strength to strength in recent years, moving away from just green bonds to seeing a spurt in social and sustainable bonds too. In a roundtable featuring some of Japan’s major ESG bond issuers and bankers, participants focus on the way forward for the market — and the roadblocks that are hampering growth.

Japan has made big strides in embracing developments in the ESG market in the past year — putting it in prime position to grow the asset class even further, writes Rashmi Kumar.

After more than two years of dealing with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Japan’s leading credits are putting recovery and capital market access at the top of their agendas. But in 2022, they face fresh challenges — rising dollar interest rates amid continued low interest rates in Japan, as well as geopolitical conflicts that have added new bouts of volatility to global markets. In these difficult times, the country’s top borrowers are making ESG a bigger focus, while emphasising the need to be agile and flexible.