JP Act on Promotion of Regional Biodiversity Enhancement Activities (Japan's New Nature-Positive Law)
ENFORCEMENT TIMELINE
Fully effective from April 2025
Overview
The Act on Promotion of Regional Biodiversity Enhancement Activities, enacted in April 2024, is a new Japanese environmental law under which the national government certifies and supports biodiversity conservation activities carried out by private companies and NPOs, in pursuit of the international "nature positive" goal. Unlike the traditional regulatory approach of restricting development, this law takes the innovative approach of legally promoting and incentivizing conservation activities, such as certifying a company's factory greenery, company-owned forest, or retention pond as an "OECM" (area-based conservation measure outside protected areas). This allows companies to directly link their voluntary biodiversity enhancement activities to their business strategy and information disclosure.
Enforcement Timeline
April 12, 2024: The bill passes a plenary session of the House of Councillors.
April 19, 2024: The act is promulgated (Act No. 18 of 2024).
April 2025: The act takes full effect, within one year of promulgation, and the government begins accepting applications for certification of corporate activity plans.
Business Impact
For manufacturers with factories, business sites, large landholdings, or company-owned forests in Japan, this system offers an important way to demonstrate environmental stewardship as part of their corporate strategy. Obtaining certification under this system can serve as objective supporting evidence for disclosures aligned with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), directly supporting a company's ESG evaluation among domestic and international institutional investors. Conversely, companies that do not pursue this may face a market access risk of being excluded as a supplier by global buyers, particularly in Europe and the United States, who are wary of nature-related impacts across the supply chain. Industries that use large volumes of water in their operations or product life cycle, such as semiconductors, devices, chemicals, and beverages, may also find it harder to maintain their social license with local communities if their watershed conservation activities are not recognized under this certification.