A "market curious" corner where you can understand the movements of financial markets.
In the week of the 6th, we will talk about investment in the decarbonization era.
It is often said that "ESG investment is important" even if you are not in the financial world, but recently there has been increasing interest in the next investment.
I also heard from a financial person that "you should be careful about" green wash "."
What is it?
(Neil Kato, Reporter, Ministry of Economic Affairs)
In the age of decarbonization, environmental measures are a major issue for the survival of companies.
In April next year, with the reorganization of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, there is a move to require companies to disclose the risks associated with climate change.
The importance of ESG investment is often said.
Responsible investment with consideration for the environment (Environment), society (Social), governance (Governance), etc. has become widespread and is becoming a universal standard.
According to a survey result, the scale of "ESG investment" in the world will exceed 35 trillion dollars and 3900 trillion yen in total as of 2020 (GSIR summary), while in the financial world, "eco", "green" and "" While the words "SDGs" are flying around, there are some doubts that the numbers may be larger than they really are.
Under these circumstances, the word "Greenwash" is heard.
It is a coined word that combines "Whitewash", which means "only on the surface" or "fake", with "Green", which means environmentally friendly.
In other words, it means "a superficial environmental measure" and "the actual situation is different by pretending to be environmentally friendly".
For example, there are cases where 100% of the products are recycled but not actually recycled, or the use of renewable energy in factories is actually only a small percentage of the total electricity used. There seems to be.
In Europe, it is said that there have been cases where stock prices have fallen due to a company being pointed out by an environmental group as a green wash.
"It's a risk not to focus on investing in companies that work on environmental measures, but it's also a risk to invest only in the word green," said one financial institution executive.
How to see through the green wash?
"Impact investment and financing" is of increasing interest now.
While getting returns from investment and loans, we are aiming for a positive impact on solving social problems such as decarbonization.
“Impact investment” is similar to ESG investment, but the difference is in measuring the effect.
Intervening financial institutions set specific numerical targets in advance and continue to monitor their progress.
It is expected that the effectiveness will be further enhanced by measuring the effect of the efforts.
Is it easy to tell if you are happy to buy various training goods to go on a diet, or if you can show your target weight and actually narrow down your weight and body fat?
In late November, 21 companies, including Mega Bank, major insurance companies, and regional banks, announced that they would actively engage in "impact investment and financing."
In the future, we will collaborate and research methods for measuring the effects of environmental measures at investment destinations.
As an economic reporter, I also cover corporate management every day, but I felt that I wanted to take a closer look at the impact side, not just the superficial numbers of business performance.
Scheduled to pay attention
What is noteworthy is that the central banks of Japan, the United States and Europe will hold a series of meetings to discuss monetary policy.
Of these, in the United States, the focus will be on what the actual response will be, as Fed Chair Jerome Powell has announced in November that he will accelerate the pace of quantitative easing.
In addition, the Bank of Japan will be paying close attention to the future treatment of financing support measures for companies affected by the new corona, which is due by the end of March next year.