NYK has received an award for innovation at the Bond Awards 2019 sponsored by Environmental Finance, one of the world's leading environmental finance magazines. NYK was recognized for its innovative use of bond proceeds to invest in eco-friendly technologies.

The U.K.-based Environmental Finance magazine reviews bonds issued in the previous calendar year and selects superior, innovative bonds that have been significant to the development of the market. The winners are decided by an independent panel of judges made up of some of the biggest investors in the green, social, and sustainability bond market. This year, 41 organizations were selected, and NYK was one of two Japanese companies recognized.

NYK was the first shipping company to issue a labelled green bond, and the order book received strong demand from investors, reaching a combined total of 26 billion yen against a 10 billion yen issue amount. This issuance helped NYK to expand its investor base, with 80 percent of the green bond investors having not purchased a bond issued by the company in the previous year.

In January 2019, NYK was awarded the Green Bond Award at the 2018 Sustainable Finance Awards by the Research Institute for Environmental Finance (RIEF). And the company was recognized as "a model case for green bond issuance” by Japan's Ministry of the Environment at the Japan Green Bond Awards in March.

NYK will continue its efforts to keep a wide range of stakeholders involved in the company’s proactive approach to environmental investment, contribute to revitalizing the domestic green bond market, and realize a sustainable society.

In accordance with its medium-term management plan “Staying Ahead 2022 with Digitalization and Green,” the company issued green bonds in May this year to contribute to the sustainable development of society and enrichment of the company's corporate value.

To address environmental regulations that will be strengthened from 2020, the green bonds will be used to construct vessels powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), develop eco-friendly fuel, equip ships with SOx scrubber systems (a system that uses seawater and chemicals to remove sulfur from ship exhaust gases), etc.