(Bloomberg) -- Japan’s huge public pension funds holding about ¥90 trillion ($566 billion) in assets are set to get more active in making ESG investments after signing the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment.
So far this year, six funds have signed the non-binding statement, including the National Pension Fund Association, which oversees about ¥4.6 trillion in assets.
Worldwide, more than 5,300 organizations including asset managers and pension funds are signatories. Japanese retirement funds have been slow to join in, but they were pushed to so by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who said last year that Japan’s seven public pension funds that hold about ¥90 trillion in assets were moving toward signing.
Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund, one of the world’s biggest retirement savings managers, signed PRI in 2015. It’s boosted holdings of environmental, social and governance assets via passive, index-based purchases since then.
Since June, three funds including those holding police and public school retirement money became signatories. PRI consists of six principles, including incorporating ESG issues into investment analysis and ownership policies.
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