
Business / Economy Jan 14, 2021
Buddhist monks are snapping up ESG bonds in Japan
Japanese religious organizations are also under pressure to earn more from investing.
For Ayai Tomisawa's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japanese religious organizations are also under pressure to earn more from investing.
Japan is one of several countries where the virus has made a comeback in winter months with Tokyo finding a record 2,447 cases on Jan. 7.
Unprecedented stimulus from central banks amid the pandemic has dragged down rates, and left investors clamoring for debt that may help increase returns.
A new type of bond that penalizes issuers for failing to meet social and environmental goals is raising concern that buying the debt may not be all that ethical.
For investors, giant bond sales are attractive because issuers usually need to pay a premium to compensate for the added risk of large repayments.
The numbers hint at what may be going on around the world as countries grapple with the fallout from mass unemployment and social isolation.
Being good employers and business partners may ultimately pay off with sustainable returns in the long term, the investors believe.
A global economic slowdown triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic is causing companies to go out of business around the world.
In the gusty northeast, a power company is looking to fund offshore wind projects with a landmark sale of green bonds that seeks to muscle in on the growing pool of money available for environmentally friendly investments. Tohoku Electric Power Co. plans to price what ...
Japanese power producers have been emitting more carbon dioxide since the 2011 nuclear disaster led to an increased reliance on fossil fuels, but a new kind of bond could help them reverse that trend. So-called transition bonds can pay for not-so-green companies to move toward ...