A group of 21 leading financial institutions in Japan, including Dai-ichi Life Group, MUFG Bank, and Sumitomo Mitsui announced the launch of the Japan Impact-driven Financing Initiative, aiming to promote the measurement and management of the changes created through investment and financing activities on social and environmental issues and to support greater impact-focused financing in the country.The new framework, initiated by the Social Innovation and Investment Foundation and impact-oriented financial institutions, aims to enable the Japanese financial industry to autonomously and sustainably develop impact-oriented investments and lending. According to the signatories, with Japan’s impact investing being still at an early stage, it is necessary for financial institutions to share th...

ESG ratings and research provider Sustainalytics announced today the launch of its Corporate Supply Chain ESG Solutions, aimed at enabling companies to assess and manage ESG risks within their supply chains.As companies face increasing pressure from investors, customers, regulators and other stakeholders to improve and report on their sustainability profiles, understanding and managing ESG impact emanating from areas often beyond their direct control, such as the supply chain, forms a formidable challenge. Key sustainability issues often present in supply chains range from human rights and forced labor to workforce health and safety, and shortages of natural resources and greenhouse gas emissions.

LONDON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Market regulators set out a global framework on Tuesday to police environment, social and governance (ESG) investment ratings and help combat 'greenwashing' in the fast-growing, multi-trillion dollar sector.Regulators are cracking down on many aspects of ESG investing with basic rules to make it easier to punish greenwashing, where the environmental credentials of an investment or activity are overstated, in a cross-border sector where investment is "exploding".

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the central bank and financial regulator of Singapore, announced today an initiative to partner with financial technology providers and finance industry participants on the development of ESG and sustainable-focused data platforms.The new initiative is being conducted under MAS’ Project Greenprint, which the authority launched last year in order to help mobilize capital for green and sustainable finance by harnessing technology and data and create a more transparent, trusted and efficient ESG ecosystem. MAS aims to develop four interoperable platforms under Project Greenprint, targeting areas including ESG disclosure, data orchestration, registration and interconnection.

Climate Disclosure Standards Board, Value Reporting Foundation consolidated into IFRSMarking a major step towards the establishment of unified and globally consistent sustainability-related corporate disclosure, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) was officially launched by the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation (IFRS) today at the COP26 climate conference.The movement to establish the ISSB was initiated in October 2020, with the launch of a consultation process by the IFRS Foundation, seeking input on the potential formation of a global sustainability reporting standards board, and on the Foundation’s own place in that process. After receiving positive responses to its consultation paper, the IFRS launched a Technical Readiness Work...