Ministry of the Environment honours DNP and LIXIL for circular finance

The Ministry of the Environment announced the winners of the 7th ESG Finance Awards Japan, holding the official ceremony on last month. The awards evaluate and award efforts to expand ESG finance by recognising organisations that integrate environmental and social goals into their financial strategies.

Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (DNP) received the Circular Economy Award in the Financial Category, while LIXIL Corporation won the same award in the Environmental Sustainable Enterprise Category.

DNP earned recognition for its early implementation of Scope 3 emissions calculations and its efforts to reduce emissions across the entire supply chain. The company identifies plastic issues as a primary objective and sets its resource circulation rate as a Sustainability Performance Target. DNP integrates finance and sustainability through company-wide involvement, including the accounting department. It aims to achieve a 70 per cent resource circulation rate by fiscal year 2030, using funding linked to environmental goals to drive its measures.

Plastic waste typically has low circulation rates. DNP promotes material and chemical recycling and collaborates with chemical manufacturers to verify new technologies. In October 2024, DNP established the first Sustainability-Linked Finance Framework in the printing industry. It subsequently issued sustainability-linked bonds in May 2025 to secure funding tied to its resource circulation targets.

LIXIL received the award for its multifaceted approach to aluminium recycling. The company established a horizontal recycling system that regenerates used aluminium sashes into equivalent products. It provides low-carbon aluminium made from 100 per cent recycled materials for domestic and international markets. This balances resource circulation with economic value.

The PremiAL series of recycled low-carbon aluminium reduces carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 50 per cent compared to products made from virgin ingots. LIXIL expanded this series to cover all products using aluminium shapes in October 2025. The company also promotes the reuse of waste generated during manufacturing to reduce environmental impact across the value chain. Under its Environmental Vision 2050, LIXIL aims for net-zero emissions by 2050 and targets a 100 per cent recycled aluminium ratio in its housing business by March 2031.