We at Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (President & Group CEO: Tatsufumi Sakai) have continually strengthened initiatives to create value for our varied stakeholders, and have positioned CSR initiatives as a pillar of our corporate conduct. At Mizuho, sustainability is defined as "achieving sustainable and stable growth for Mizuho, and through this growth, contributing to the sustainable development and prosperity of the economy, industry, and society around the world". Sustainability initiatives will be an integral part of our strategy moving forward, and we have strengthened our stance on advancing group–wide sustainability initiatives as per the following.
1. Establishing a Basic Policy on Sustainability Initiatives (Attachment 1)
After deliberation at the Executive Management Committee and the Board of Directors, a Basic Policy on Sustainability Initiatives was established to define our fundamental approach and methods for advancing sustainability initiatives. Our group companies have adopted the same policy, allowing implementation of future initiatives on a group–wide level. We are also striving to continually enhance these initiatives, placing due emphasis on dialogue with stakeholders.
Fundamental approach for sustainability initiatives
By taking a long–term approach for key sustainability areas, Mizuho will be able to conduct management in a way that considers creation of value for a range of stakeholders and achieves improvement of corporate value through sustainable, stable growth for the entire group. As a result, we can contribute to the sustainable development and prosperity of the economy, industry, and society in Japan and around the world.
2. Identifying key sustainability areas (Attachment 1)
In order to advance sustainability initiatives consistently throughout the group, in the recently established 5–year Business Plan: Transitioning to the Next Generation of Financial Services, we have defined key sustainability areas (materiality) according to the expectations and requests of stakeholders and based on the importance and compatibility of such initiatives for our strategy, as well as impact on medium– to long–term corporate value, and have set related KPIs and objectives.
Each in–house company, unit, and group will establish a strategy incorporating sustainability initiatives, and our core group companies are being instructed to promote these initiatives in a suitable manner.
Materiality
In addition to the business–related issues (a declining birth rate and ageing population in Japan, wellbeing and longevity, industrial development and innovation, sound economic development, and environmental considerations) and the issues related to corporate foundations (corporate governance, human capital, and the environment and society), we have identified open partnerships and collaboration with a diverse range of stakeholders as another priority.
3. Addressing climate change and revising our Policies on Specific Industrial Sectors (Attachment 2)
Climate change is closely tied to various economic and social issues, and we recognize that addressing climate change is an important issue in the medium to long term. As a financial services group, we are dedicated to holding dialogue with customers and other stakeholders and fulfilling our consulting role, and will proactively address climate change and support the shift to a low–carbon society. These initiatives will also be promoted for the purpose of securing stable energy supplies in countries around the world.
Specifically, "environmental considerations" and "the environment and society" will be defined as key sustainability areas (Attachment 1) for business and corporate foundations respectively, and the amount of business for green finance and sustainable finance deals will be set as a business monitoring indicator for environmental considerations and other issues as we take action to expand these areas.
Also, the Policies on Specific Industrial Sectors1 were revised to create tighter standards on our involvement in business related to coal–fired power generation.2 Mizuho Bank, Ltd.; Mizuho Trust & Banking Co., Ltd.; Mizuho Securities Co., Ltd.; and Mizuho Americas LLC adopted these Policies which went into effect on July 1, 2019. Furthermore, we will conduct phased implementation of initiatives based on the Recommendations of the Task Force on Climate–related Financial Disclosures, and disclose information as appropriate.
Along with working to disseminate sustainability initiatives among employees, Mizuho is taking proactive action for the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Attachment 1: Mizuho's sustainability initiatives (PDF/146KB)
Notes
- 1:Established in May 2018 in anticipation of strengthening our stance on responsible investment and financing.
- 2:Changes are below.
| Prior to revision | After revision |
| ■Examination of technological efficiency "...when deciding whether to extend credit...one of our primary considerations is whether the use of greenhouse gas–producing technology is appropriate due to economic necessity when compared to feasible alternative technologies which offer similar levels of energy efficiency." |
■Clarification of consistency with guidelines, national policies, etc. "...only provide financing or investment...in the case that the project meets international guidelines (e.g. OECD Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits), the energy policy and climate change measures of the target country, as well as the energy policy, laws, and regulations of Japan." ■Clarification of technological efficiency "Even if such conditions are met, financing/investment is in principle limited to technology that is at least as high–efficiency as state–of–the–art ultra–supercritical generators. (However, this excludes business to which Mizuho is already committed as of the start of this policy.)" |