March 29, 2023

Growing focus on ESG in Japan: Disclosure, outperformance and roll costs

More disclosure for ESG investments in Japan

With the advancement of the Japanese sustainable market, there have been calls for more disclosure and consistency in ESG scores. The FSA is calling for a voluntary code on a ‘comply or explain’ basis.

The latest Japanese ESG indices and passive investment report, written in collaboration with SGX

Each quarter, we review the development of Japan's sustainability standards, the ESG performance of Japanese listed companies compared to the broad-market index and the growth of index-linked SGX FTSE Blossom Japan Index Futures.

Key highlights from this quarter’s analysis:

  • Q4 2022 was another strong quarter for FTSE Russell’s Japan ESG flagship index series.
  • The outperformance of the blossom index series over the traditional market cap index is attributed to the stock selection effect.
  • SGX FTSE Blossom Japan Index Futures continue to be the leading listed derivatives solution on the FTSE Blossom Japan Index.