Japan Inc. is getting ready to pivot away from ESG

Toyota and GPIF are leading the way for a collective retreat

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20220804 SDGs sign Japan.jpg

A sign advertising sustainable development goals in Ginza, Tokyo, in June 2021: Japanese companies embraced ESG and SDGs all at once in a herdlike reflex. © Sipa/AP

Stephen Givens is a corporate lawyer based in Tokyo.

In recent weeks, mainstream Japanese media, echoing their foreign counterparts, have begun reporting second thoughts about the wisdom of investments and corporate policies based on environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns.

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