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Buddhist Monks Are Snapping Up ESG Bonds in Japan

  • Nomura says more temples and shrines interested in ESG bonds
  • Japan’s sustainable note sales jumped 68% last year to record
JAPAN-LIFESTYLE

Photographer: Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images

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ESG investing is so popular in Japan that even Buddhist monks are getting into it.

One of the new investors is Tokuunin, a Zen Buddhist temple in central Tokyo. The religious group wanted to make more money for building repairs and maintenance over the coming decades, so it bought 40-year social bonds sold by the University of Tokyo, according to Yuzan Yamamoto, its chief priest.