Initiatives for the Equator Principles

In April 2019, Nippon Life adopted the Equator Principles.

The Equator Principles (EPs) is a risk management framework, adopted by financial institutions, for determining, assessing and managing environmental and social risk in projects and is primarily intended to provide a minimum standard for due diligence and monitoring to support responsible risk decision-making.

Based on the "Performance Standards" of IFC (International Finance Corporation), a member of the World Bank Group, and "World Bank Group EHS (Environmental, Health and Safety) Guidelines", financial institutions formulate their own guidelines and establish internal management systems for assessing environmental and social impacts of projects.

The EPs are applied to project finance loans, project-related corporate loans, bridge loans, project-related refinance and project-related acquisition finance in all countries and industry sectors, subject to relevant thresholds and criteria for application.

Financial institutions that adopt the Equator Principles (EPFIs) commit to implementing the EPs in their internal environmental and social policies, procedures and standards for financing projects. These institutions will not provide project finance or project-related corporate loans to projects in cases where the client does not comply with the EPs.

As of the end of March 2023, 138 EPFIs in 38 countries have officially adopted the EPs, covering the majority of international project finance.

Please visit the official website for more details on the Equator Principles.

IFC has created the following eight performance standards (PS) as environmental and social guidelines for its clients.

Please visit IFC's official website for more details.

The World Bank Group has created technical reference documents for environmental, health and safety that should be observed when carrying out projects. They consist of General EHS Guidelines for all industries and Industry Sector EHS Guidelines with additional guidance for specific industrial sectors.

Please visit IFC's official website for more details.

Nippon Life has emphasized the viewpoint of maintaining a harmonious coexistence with the environment, the community and society, and sharing stable growth together with companies and the economy as a whole. As part of its asset management operations, Nippon Life is bolstering its ESG investments that take into consideration environmental, social, and governance factors according to the characteristics of assets.

Nippon Life initiated engagement in project financing in 2013, set up the Structured Finance Department in 2017, and is also steadily accumulating transactions in overseas project finance. Projects that involve large-scale development could potentially have major impacts on the natural environment and local communities. With this recognition, in April 2019, Nippon Life decided to adopt the Equator Principles, which stipulate that sufficient consideration should be given to environmental and social impacts when making decisions on project finance.

In line with the adoption of the Equator Principles, Nippon Life has established internal policies and processes related to loan execution that incorporate the principles, along with policies that consider environmental and social aspects and an Environmental and Social Risk Assessment Manual that designates the assessment processes for such risks. In accordance with the manual, departments in charge of loan activities will implement primary assessments of environmental and social risks, and the Credit Department will carry out secondary assessments.

For projects that are subject to the Equator Principles, the departments in charge of loans and the Credit Department will implement environmental and social risk assessments that confirm whether or not consideration for the environment and society by the client for the project adequately fulfills the standards requested in the Equator Principles, in accordance with the internal Environmental and Social Risk Assessment Manual.

More specifically, Nippon Life will classify projects into the following categories depending on the results of assessments on the potential level of risk and impact a project could have on the natural environment and society, in line with the first principle of the Equator Principles.

Nippon Life will then confirm the status of compliance with the Equator Principles depending on the project's category classification. For instance, if a project has been classified as Category A, we will confirm whether consideration for the environment and society has been incorporated in the project in accordance with Equator Principles 2 through 10.

Depending on the results of that confirmation, we will seek agreements with the client on Equator Principle covenants reflected in the financing contract going forward.

Projects subject to the Equator Principles that reached financial close from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023 are listed below.

These projects have been verified as fulfilling the Equator Principles through the aforementioned process.

From April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023, Nippon Life closed three transactions for project financing. The classification breakdown is listed in the chart below.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

In terms of reflecting Equator Principle covenants in loan agreements when concluding finance contracts, Nippon Life will confirm the status of compliance with the covenants through regular reports submitted by the client and other information. The covenants include, but are not limited to, compliance with regulations related to the environment and society, and action plans as appropriate.

After the Equator Principles were adopted in 2019, projects compliance with the Equator Principles have been monitored in accordance with the aforementioned principles.

In addition to maintaining internal manuals, Nippon Life periodically conducts in-house training for employees of departments in charge of lending to deepen their understanding of the ideas behind the Equator Principles and the process for assessing environmental and social risks.

Going forward, Nippon Life will endeavor to improve corporate awareness of consideration toward the environment and society by conducting internal training and other initiatives.