venture capital
Yucho Asset Management has executed an investment in ECOMMIT, a Kagoshima-based enterprise focused on resource circulation. The capital injection was made through the JP Investment Regional Impact Fund No. 1, a vehicle dedicated to fostering regional economic revitalization and achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The investment targets a growing
capital markets
The global regulatory landscape for corporate sustainability has officially fractured into three distinct camps. While the United States aggressively dismantles federal climate regulations and the European Union recalibrates its rules amid energy crises, Japan is quietly but firmly locking in a strict, mandatory roadmap for corporate climate and human capital
capital markets
The Financial Services Agency (FSA) has released its "2025 Collection of Good Practices in Descriptive Information Disclosure." This document serves as a strategic playbook for listed companies, moving toward a model of "narrative reporting" that bridges the gap between ESG initiatives and financial value creation. As
sustainability
A consortium of Japanese financial institutions, energy providers, and technology startups have successfully demonstrated a "24/7 Corporate Power Purchase Agreement" (C-PPA). The trial, led by Mizuho Bank, Mizuho Securities, Mizuho Leasing, Electric Power Development (J-POWER), and the DeepTech startup Scalar, is a step toward real-time carbon-free energy
venture capital
Plug and Play Japan, the regional arm of the global innovation platform and venture capital firm, has successfully completed the final closing of its debut investment vehicle, "Plug and Play Japan Fund I." Total capital commitments for the fund surpassed its initial targets, reaching over 6 billion yen
sustainability
SMBC Group has begun deploying "ASUENE," a specialized cloud-based platform for the visualization, reduction, and reporting of CO2 emissions. This decisive move by the Japanese megabank aims to centralize and automate its environmental reporting across its global network of more than 3,000 locations. The adoption of the
venture capital
Ricoh has established the RICOH Innovation Fund II, a new Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) vehicle designed to broaden the company's strategic reach into overseas markets. The fund, which officially launched on April 6, 2026, carries a total scale of 3 billion yen and an operational term of eight
crypto
The Cabinet Office on Friday submitted proposed legislative reforms to Japan’s Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and the Payment Services Act, aimed at modernizing capital markets and enhancing investor protection, to the Diet. The headline-grabbing focus is reclassifying crypto-assets as financial products under stricter securities regulations to curb unfair
sustainability
A recently published report by Pensions for Purpose in collaboration with MUFG First Sentier investigates how global asset owners are integrating nature and biodiversity into their investment processes. While the financial sector has historically focused on climate change, this research highlights a growing shift toward recognizing biological loss as a
real estate
To achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, Japanese financial institutions are promoting "Zero Energy Renovation (Zenobe) Finance" to upgrade the environmental performance of aging building stocks. This requires a collaborative effort by major banks to address economic hurdles and technical constraints that currently prevent owners from retrofitting older properties.
impact
A fundamental re-evaluation of corporate value is underway, compelling leaders to measure what was once considered immeasurable. At the forefront of this shift is impact accounting, a discipline defined by the International Foundation for Valuing Impacts (IFVI) and the Value Balancing Alliance (VBA) as the practice of measuring an organization&
carbon credit
Nomura Securities has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with World Vision Japan (WVJ), a specified non-profit organization, to support the development of new projects using Japan’s Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM). Nomura has been actively engaged in research, framework design, and market development in the JCM space. In June