Japan's first ESG real estate fund set for launch
Japanese farm lender Norinchukin Bank will market real estate investment funds focusing on properties that achieve sustainability targets, in what it calls a first for the domestic asset management industry. Norinchukin, which has grown from a savings institution for farmers into a global investor with around 106 trillion yen ($982 billion) in assets, has devoted 10 billion yen of its own money to a handpicked portfolio of real estate investment trusts. The move marks the latest example of Japanese institutional investors adopting environmental, social and governance factors as a guide for asset allocation. The REITs are selected using the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark, which considers criteria including worker health, energy consumption by buildings and the presence of renewable energy generation.
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