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We analyse the current status of impact reporting for Japan's green bonds, identify challenges, and make recommendations for the future.The green bonds covered by the analysis are those issued in the two-and-a-half-year period from January 2017 to June 2019 and those which include renewable energy in their use of proceeds. As a result, a total of 45 green bonds issued by 31 issuers with a total issuance amount of JPY 733.7 billion are included in the analysis. In discussing the impact reporting of these green bonds, we refer to the Green Bond Guidelines 2017 (2017 Guidelines) set out by the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) and the Green Bond Principles (GBP) formulated by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) as the norm for green bond reporting in Japan during the above period. A revised version of the GBP was issued in June 2021, so we have also taken this latest version into consideration when deriving our recommendations. Similarly, the revised Guidelines published by MOE in 2020 (2020 Guidelines) are also considered.
This paper confirms diversified practices and makes recommendations. It is important to promote the standardisation of international impact reporting, thereby ensuring that investors can assess the impacts of green bonds adequately, while keeping in mind the need to reduce the burden on issuers. The issues raised in this paper have implications for the standardisation of impact reporting for green bonds internationally.
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