Interest in ESG investing has been increasing amid efforts to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In light of this, Nomura Securities Co., Ltd. (Hereinafter, “NSC”) and Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. (Hereinafter “NRI”) conducted joint research and have published NOMURA-BPI SDGs (the index) since November 12, 2019 as a new sub-index to the NOMURA-BPI*. The index reflects the performance of the secondary market for green bonds, social bonds, and sustainability bonds (hereinafter collectively referred to as "SDG bonds") issued in Japan. By developing and providing the index that is useful to the performance evaluation and risk analysis of SDG bonds, NSC and NRI aim to contribute to economic growth and sustainable social development and promote initiatives to achieve the SDGs, while supporting the growth of the SDG bond market in Japan.

* NOMURA-BPI is an index developed to reflect the performance of the secondary market for publicly-offered fixed income bonds issued in Japan. It is widely used by many investors including pension fund managers.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Hereinafter, “SDGs”) have gained widespread recognition in recent years. As part of this, green bonds issued to raise funds for solving environmental problems, such as global warming, and promoting renewable energy, social bonds that target social outcomes, and sustainability bonds issued for both social and green projects (hereinafter referred to as “SDG bonds”) have been attracting attention globally.
The importance of incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into investment strategies continues to be the subject of active discussion. Going forward, the need to include performance evaluation and risk analysis of SDG bonds in ESG investing is expected to further increase.
In April 2019, Nomura Securities Co., Ltd. (Hereinafter “NSC”) and Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. (Hereinafter “NRI”) launched a joint research to provide a new sub-index to the NOMURA-BPI*. Based on the research, the two companies developed "NOMURA-BPI SDGs" (hereinafter the index) which reflects the secondary market performance for SDG bonds issued in Japan, and started to publish the index on November 12, 2019.
The index selects SDG bonds (116 issues and 56 issuers as of March 1, 2020) from a universe of NOMURA-BPI constituents. NRI determines eligibility as SDG bonds based on certain rules and NSC calculates and publishes the index values and risk indicators. The two companies also provide index values and risk indicators classified by term to maturity (Short/Medium/Long/Super long term), sector (e.g., Corporate bonds/Yen-denominated foreign bonds), rating attributions (e.g., AAA/AA) and so on.

By developing indices and providing necessary information, NSC and NRI aim to contribute to sustained economic growth and sustainable social development and promote initiatives to achieve the SDGs, while supporting the growth of the SDG bond market in Japan.

* NOMURA-BPI is an index developed to reflect the performance of the secondary market for publicly-offered fixed income bonds issued in Japan. It is widely used by many investors including pension fund managers.

Nomura Research Institute, Ltd.

Press release on September 27, 2019
Nomura Publishes NOMURA-BPI SDGs
https://www.nomuraholdings.com/news/nr/nsc/20190927/20190927_a.pdf

Nomura Holdings, Inc.
Environmental Management Policy (Long-Term Vision for Global Warming)
https://www.nomuraholdings.com/csr/environment/management.html