MNI BRIEF: Kuroda: Climate Change Policy Size Could Be 'Large'

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Friday that the scale of new climate change measures may be sizeable as major commercial banks are considering large scale projects. Kuroda told reporters that the BOJ "will decide on the scale of new measures after further examining requests by commercial banks."

On Friday, the BOJ, announced the outline of new measures to support financial institutions efforts to address climate change issues, but there were no numbers yet available as to the scale of support. Kuroda said there is no discussion amongst central banks in advanced economies that it is necessary to change or alter mandates, although the central banks are actively tackling climate change issues.

Kuroda pointed out that major banks have laid long-term climate change strategies, but regional banks haven't yet, although they do have an interest. "I hope commercial banks to actively take action to address climate changes under the new scheme." "I also hope the number of businesses that address climate changes to increase," Kuroda said.