• Mizuho promotes impact business in Japan and globally.
• Mizuho is the first financial organisation from Japan to participate in UNDP's training on SDGs.

Mizuho Financial Group, a leading financial institution in Japan, has collaborated with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to support projects that address social issues and increase economic and corporate value in Asia.

This is a first-of-a-kind collaboration with a Japanese financial institution and the UNDP.

Partnership Goals

Mizuho will help clients incorporate social impact into their businesses and encourage practices that generate profit as well as positive social outcomes. The bank released "Impact Business Compass" in May 2024, detailing their approach to impact business.

The UNDP was founded in 1965 and is based in New York. It is a United Nations agency focused on reducing poverty, fighting inequality, and addressing climate change internationally in about 170 countries and territories.

Mizuho will create a value chain by linking impact with economic growth. They have participated in UNDP's training on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and are working to involve more clients in impact finance.

The agreement between the organisations focuses on three main areas:

• Finding solutions to social issues;
• Creating impactful projects that address these issues; and
• Accelerating efforts to achieve social impact.

Kanni Wignaraja, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific at the UNDP, said: "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, said: “We are making efforts with various stakeholders to cocreate 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."

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Source: Mizuho