Report: ESG Investment and Animal Welfare

In the realm of investment and financing, there is a gradual shift towards a society that places great importance on animal welfare. This is because the commitment to animal welfare can significantly impact a company’s value in the long term.  The Animal Rights Center Japan engaged with banks, credit unions, and institutional investors from 2022 to early 2023. An important revelation from this engagement was that many of them have a solid understanding of animal welfare, positively agree to integrate it into their business practices. After gaining an understanding of animal welfare through engagement, approximately 40% of the entities can effectively communicate the importance of animal welfare to their customers.…

Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Emphasizes the Importance of Advancing Animal Welfare

On December 11, 2023, lawmaker Seiichi Kushida asked Prime Minister Fumio Kishida about animal welfare at a plenary session of the House of Councilors, the upper chamber of Japan’s parlimament. Mr. Kushida explained how animal welfare efforts will impact investment and the country’s economy. “In the policy speech of the agriculture minister, there was absolutely no mentioning of animal welfare. Is it that animals don’t matter as long as people are happy? Animals are not objects. What is your perception of Japan being rated as the world’s coldest country to animals?,” he confronted the prime minister. In response to this question, Prime Minister Kishida emphasized the need to promote animal…