UNEP Finance Initiative together with the Japanese Principles for Financial Action (PFA), a Japan nation-wide sustainable finance forum, held a seminar on ESG investments in real estate. Taking the opportunity of the visit to Japan by the UNEP FI’s Property Working Group Co-Chair Anna Murray, Vice President, Sustainable Investing, BentallGreenOak, the Working Group members in Japan together with PFA’s Environmental Property Working Group members seek to mobilise property investors in Japan to step up their ESG integration by offering insightful discussions on the latest global and national developments in ESG real estate investment. Around 40 Japanese Real Estate Investors participated in the event and the environmentally and socially friendly venue, AoyamaTreehouse, was provided by BentallGreenOak.
In her keynote presentation, Anna Murray shared BentallGreenOak’s sustainability leadership, value proposition and approach, as well as UNEP FI Property Working Group activities, including Positive Impact Initiative and TCFD Investor Pilot, to show case global trends in Real Estate ESG Investment.
Following a supplementary presentation on Positive Impact as a next generation ESG investment made by Ryuichi Horie, an advisor for UNEP FI Property Working Group, President and CEO of CSR design environment Investment Advisory Co., Ltd. and Co-Chair of PFA’s Real Estate Investment Working Group, a panel discussion was organised with three panelists representing Japan’s leading Real Estate ESG investors. They shared their approaches to sustainability integration, existing and potential products and services, and provided important insights into how they would be able to make the next step forward in sustainable real estate investment in Japan.
Panelists (from left to right in the picture below):
- Koki Fukui, Development Bank of Japan
- Masaki Hori, The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company
- Hideki Kobayashi, Japan Real Estate Asset Management
Moderator (far right): Ryuichi Horie
