October 10, 2024
Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.
First collaboration agreement in Japan with the United Nations Development Programme to increase impact business initiatives
Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (President & Group CEO: Masahiro Kihara) has formed an agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP; Administrator: Achim Steiner) to collaborate in expanding initiatives in the impact business aiming to both find solutions to social problems and increase economic and corporate value in Asia, including Japan, and indeed the world. This is the first collaboration agreement in Japan between the UNDP and a financial institution.
In its aim to realize a sustainable society, Mizuho is going beyond its traditional financing role; while contributing to its clients' business activities, it is encouraging them to conduct decision-making and business management that incorporate impact, and working together with them on impact business-related initiatives aiming to boost corporate value through activities that achieve impact and generate profit. In order to further promote such initiatives, Mizuho published its Impact Business Compass report in May 2024. This report incorporates Mizuho's policies regarding impact and the impact business's potential and related policy initiatives.
The UNDP was founded in 1965. Headquartered in New York, it is the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality and climate change. Working with its broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, it helps nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and the planet. The UNDP's Sustainable Finance Hub is developing a number of solutions to increase opportunities for financial institutions to proactively contribute to sustainable development and SDGs, and providing advice and training services for developing an investment framework focusing on impact that is incorporated into the investment cycle.
Mizuho is implementing initiatives to generate value resulting from a virtuous circle consisting of achieving impact and economic and corporate value. In 2022, it was the first financial institution in the world to participate in the UNDP's SDG Impact Standards Training, and has strengthened its initiatives to enable a wide range of clients to get involved in impact finance.
Recently, a global trend has been seen for expansion in the market for impact finance, which strengthens the economic foundation through improvements to increasingly diverse social and environmental issues and increases in potential economic and social sustainability, as well as for an increase in business activities targeting both solutions to social issues and increasing corporate value. Under the agreement between Mizuho and the UNDP, the UNDP will provide Mizuho with comprehensive advisory services to strengthen the ability to designate sustainable investment strategies, operations, and projects. Mizuho will leverage the UNDP's high level of expertise and global network to develop and enhance talent, gain knowledge of the global impact business, and carry out initiatives to promote development of the impact business in Asia, including Japan, and globally in collaboration with the UNDP.
Principal areas of collaboration:
- Developing solutions to social issues
- Co-creating impact that provides solutions to social problems
- Expanding the areas for achieving impact
Based on its Purpose to "Proactively innovate together with our clients for a prosperous and sustainable future", the Mizuho group, as a value co-creation partner, will leverage its collective strength to contribute to finding solutions for social and environmental issues.
Comments by related parties:
- Kanni Wignaraja, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific at the UNDP
The UNDP aims to achieve its sustainable development goals by 2030, and is endeavoring to provide support to strengthen the capacity of commercial financing institutions that provide the funds to tackle urgent global issues like climate change, loss of biodiversity, and economic and social justice. Asia is now presented with both sustainability issues and the business opportunities that arise with the shift to a sustainable society. The UNDP is collaborating with Mizuho as a trusted advisor in the area of the global impact business, and aims to realize a more sustainable and equitable future for Asia and the rest of the world.
- Yasuhiko Ushikubo, Senior Executive Officer, Head of Research & Consulting Unit, and Group Chief Sustainability Officer at Mizuho Financial Group
Based on Mizuho's Purpose to "Proactively innovate together with our clients for a prosperous and sustainable future", we are making efforts with various stakeholders to co-create solutions that achieve impact. Realizing a sustainable society will involve incorporating social and environmental issues, which were until now considered a factor external to corporate and economic activities, as an integral part of decision making. In other words, a factor previously viewed as external must be included internally, and a virtuous circle needs to be created from the realization of impact and corporate growth. Through the collaboration agreement we have formed with the UNDP, an organization with a track record in areas like supporting projects achieving impact globally and conducting training to accelerate private sector companies' focus on impact, we will work together to promote Mizuho's impact business not only in Japan but globally.
Impact Business Compass URL in the Mizuho group website:
https://www.mizuhogroup.com/binaries/content/assets/pdf/mizuhoglobal/sustainability/overview/report/compass.pdf (PDF/5,029KB)