ESG- and sustainability-related legal services

As companies throughout the world face increased pressure to engage in efforts related to the SDGs and ESG (environment, social and governance), PwC Legal Japan provides professional support to help you achieve management that leads to sustainable growth and development while also solving important corporate and social issues related to ESG. We work closely with the PwC Japan Group and the PwC global network with around 3,600 lawyers in approximately 90 countries to provide strategic advice, especially from a legal perspective, and provide legal support for implementation.

Legal support for business and human rights

We provide legal services to support your human rights initiatives. Specifically, we provide legal support for the following six areas:

formulating human rights policies (including the preparation of internal regulations, policy statements etc.);
support for implementing human rights due diligence (HRDD) (including risk-based approaches to HRDD, recommendations on preventive measures, mitigation measures and risk monitoring);
review of contracts throughout the supply chain from the perspective of human rights;
support for building remedial measures and grievance mechanisms;
legal support for specific human rights-related issues; and
legal support for the preparation and disclosure of integrated reports.

In connection with the above, we also provide legal advice on human rights-related regulations (including regulations on imports and exports and economic sanctions).

Transformation of business models for ESG issues

We provide legal support for the transformation of business models to realise sustainability management including support in the following areas:

legal services to help you transform your supply chains and business models with an eye on trends in ESG-related legislation and soft law.
legal support for M&As and business alliances aimed at structuring new supply chains and business models
support for legal due dilligence (including ESG due diligence) and drafting and negotiation of ESG-related contracts
legal support for structuring and contract preparation support for transactions related to sustainability (such as net zero- and climate change-related transactions)
legal support for design of ESG-linked remuneration plans.

Building compliance systems for sustainability

Business activities inevitably run the risk of conflicting with ESG-related legislations and soft laws. To help you mitigate this risk, as well as achieve affirmative sustainability management, we provide legal support for introducing ESG-related compliance programs, building tailor-made internal risk-management systems, ensuring compliance with guidelines and managing internal training programs, as well as other support for building governance and compliance systems to achieve sustainability management.

Legal support for sustainable finance

We provide legal advice for designing financial instruments based on various legislations and soft laws related to sustainable finance and investment, as well as for structuring, preparing contracts and executing transactions related to project financing for renewable energy power generation facilities.

Other: ESG-related legal advice and litigation

By leveraging the PwC global network, we also provide other ESG-related legal advice, support for dialogue with shareholders including responses to shareholder proposals and support for dialogue with NGOs, as well as support and represent our clients in ESG litigation.

Explore our services

Support for the formulation of human rights policies and the implementation of human rights due diligence

We identified important human rights issues based on human rights risk mapping that we provided for our client's operation, and assisted our client with the formulation of human rights policies. We provided our client with the research framework and roadmap for human rights due diligence, provided advice on establishing a system for respect for human rights, and supported the implementation of human rights due diligence.

Support for building a business model for sustainability management

We investigated the contents and trends of various ESG-related laws and regulations and soft law that pertained to our client, both on a global level and for individual countries, and supported the development of a business model to help the client realise a circular economy.

Support for the establishment of an ESG/sustainability-related investment fund

We provided legal support for research on regulations and for structuring and reviewing contracts in connection with an ESG/sustainability-related investment fund.

Latest newsletters

11 results

2025-02-25

Download PDF -

Risk & Governance Legal Newsletter（February 2025）

Here is an overview of the AI Act and key steps that companies should consider from a compliance perspective.

2024-02-27

Download PDF -

Recent updates on merger review practices in Japan

In this newsletter, we will outline the review methods that have been emphasised as important by the JFTC in recent cases, as well as the practical considerations in dealing with such review methods.

2023-11-28

Download PDF -

Risk & Governance Newsletter (November 2023)

In this newsletter, we will outline the legal considerations for cross-border remote work under Japanese law.

2023-05-02

Download PDF -

Numerical criteria introduced for clarifying the scope of regulations on crypto-assets in Japan

The Financial Services Agency’s amendments to the ‘Guideline for Supervision of Crypto-Asset Exchange Service Providers’ aim to clarify when tokens (e.g. NFTs) are not considered crypto-assets.

View all