Record ESG bonds sold by Japan firms as government set to debut
JAPANESE issuers have sold record amounts of yen sustainable bonds at a faster pace than other regions this year, as a planned debut environment note sale by the government highlights its commitment to such fundraising.
Issuance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) bonds from Japanese corporate and government-affiliated issuers has soared 47 per cent to 2.6 trillion yen (S$24.4 billion) so far in the first half, the most ever for the period, Bloomberg-compiled data showed.
That is faster than the 14 per cent increase in global sustainable note sales during the period and also beats the rest of Asia, the US, and the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, the data showed.
Japan’s government is preparing to issue the world’s first sovereign transition bonds in the second half of the fiscal year started in April. The move shows its support for debt that is designed to help heavy-emitting industries become more energy efficient and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
The nation’s issuers are also steadily boosting the portion of their bond sales that are ESG debt – those made up 31 per cent of issuance so far this year, compared with 10 per cent for all of 2020, according to Bloomberg-compiled data.
“The government’s sovereign transition bond will likely boost ESG bond sales even more,” said Kentaro Mori, managing director at Nomura Securities’ sustainable finance department, adding that transition finance in the energy sector may continue to grow.
Japanese sellers of transition notes this year include Osaka Gas with a 35 billion yen deal, and Japan Airlines, which issued 20 billion yen of the debt. The pipeline for the nation’s ESG bonds includes a mammoth planned green-bond deal from NTT Finance of about 300 billion yen and Kyushu Railway’s proposed 10 billion yen green note.
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