The head of ESG at Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund will leave the company, according to people familiar with the matter.
Kenji Shiomura, who was managing director of ESG and stewardship department at the GPIF, one of the world’s biggest pension funds, had focused on environmental, social and governance-related projects since joining the firm in 2016. Shiomura previously worked at Daiwa Securities Group Inc.
The pension fund has signaled that it will remain an enthusiastic supporter of sustainability projects even as demand for environmentally conscious assets slides abroad, as US President Donald Trump pulls green funding while promoting fossil fuels.
Shiomura was involved in selecting ESG indexes that the fund used to make investment decisions, and helped prepare the firm’s annual ESG reports. The people, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters, didn’t give a reason for his departure.
A GPIF spokesperson declined to comment on his resignation, and said that Hitoshi Hirokawa, who served as senior director of the ESG and stewardship department, had already been appointed as managing director of the department.
GPIF held about ¥17.8 trillion of assets tracking ESG indexes at the end of March 2024 — equivalent at the time to about 14% of equity investments — and had ¥1.6 trillion of green or related bonds, according to a filing.
The new president of GPIF, Kazuto Uchida, said in a speech last month that the organization plans to “deepen” its ESG investing and apply sustainability standards to all the asset classes it considers holding.
With assistance from Takashi Umekawa.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
