Japan's first ESG real estate fund set for launch

Farm lender Norinchukin picks properties tied to green energy and worker health

20200105N Rice paddy on Tokyo rooftop

Tokyo families harvest rice grown on a rooftop in Roppongi. Buildings in Japan's capital are trying different ways of going green. (Photo by Arisa Moriyama)

YOHEI HIROSE, Nikkei staff writer

TOKYO -- Japanese farm lender Norinchukin Bank will market real estate investment funds focusing on properties that achieve sustainability targets, in what it calls a first for the domestic asset management industry.

Norinchukin, which has grown from a savings institution for farmers into a global investor with around 106 trillion yen ($982 billion) in assets, has devoted 10 billion yen of its own money to a handpicked portfolio of real estate investment trusts.

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