CLIMATE Impact X (CIX) has secured investment from Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group, which will collaborate with the Singaporean carbon exchange to meet the growing demand for international carbon credits among Japanese companies.
The partners announced on November 28 that the funds provided by Mizuho will be used to build out CIX’s current platforms, deepen the firm’s offerings for the Japanese market, and ultimately expand its presence across the region. This will empower them to better serve clients in Japan and other regions, particularly those in carbon-intensive sectors.
Mizuho Financial Group's group chief sustainability officer Yasuhiko Ushikubo (left) with Climate Impact X chief executive officer Mikkel Larsen at CIX's office. (Photo: CLIMATE Impact X, Mizuho Financial Group)
CIX is jointly owned by Singapore Exchange, DBS, Standard Chartered and GenZero, a green project investment platform founded by Temasek.
Mizuho’s investment decision stems from a shared belief between the bank and CIX that carbon credits will play a key role in the decarbonization of Japan, according to the statement.
Mizuho’s president and CEO, Masahiro Kihara, said that with the partnership, the bank aims to provide its customers with “reliable and high-quality carbon credits”, and contribute to the expansion of the carbon credit market in Asia and other regions.
He views carbon credits as a mechanism to provide funding for climate-action projects and support the overall decarbonization of society. The market is also becoming important in “connecting technologies that achieve carbon removal with investors, to speed up their implementation”.
CIX chief executive Mikkel Larsen said that the partnership is significant as countries “rarely have a perfect match in the demand and supply of carbon credits”. Therefore, the stated aims of the partnership are to “facilitate cross-border trading and connectivity between markets”, which both firms believe are “crucial to adress imbalances in the demand and supply of carbon credits and help to scale the market effectively”.
He also said that CIX sees Japan as an increasingly progressive market for decarbonization solutions, including its use of carbon credits, so having a strong partner in Mizuho would enable it to meaningfully serve customers in the market.
