The Tokyo Metropolitan Government ( TMG ) is preparing to issue the Tokyo Resilience Bonds, a type of TMG bond wherein the proceeds are exclusively dedicated to initiatives which fall under the Tokyo Resilience Project. 

The project, in response to the escalating climate crisis, presents a vision of Tokyo in the 2040s as a resilient city, and outlines a comprehensive set of enhanced policies designed to realize that vision.

The TMG, it says, has finalized the bond framework and the bond has received the world’s first international certification as a resilience bond.

Urban resilience against natural disasters intensified by climate change has become a global challenge, the TMG’s bureaus of finance notes, and it is against this backdrop that the bonds will be issued to provide financial support for the project. 

Furthermore, by issuing the bonds in international markets as instruments with proceeds exclusively allocated to climate change adaptation and resilience, the TMG seeks to showcase its resilience initiatives to the global community and to promote worldwide investment in this field. In doing so, Tokyo, the TGM points out, aims to become a leading city in “sustainable and resilient finance”.

The bonds, whose issuance date is scheduled for October, have a target issuance amount of 50 billion yen ( US$331.56 million ), denominated in foreign currency.

The proceeds are scheduled to be allocated to the following six projects: 

• Upgrading small and medium-sized rivers to enhance flood resilience
• Developing and upgrading coastal protection facilities for the Port of Tokyo and remote islands
• Reinforcing river infrastructure to strengthen water and seismic resilience
• Undergrounding utility poles to prevent collapse in the event of a disaster
• Developing and upgrading sediment disaster prevention and coastal protection facilities
• Renovating port facilities to protect remote islands vulnerable to typhoons and coastal hazards.

All these projects fall under the Tokyo Resilience Project and contribute to addressing increasingly severe storm and flood disasters caused by climate change.

Among bonds with designated use of proceeds, instruments, such as green bonds ( proposed for addressing environmental challenges ), are already established. The TMG, it points out, was the first local government in Japan to issue such bonds and has played a pioneering role in fostering the development of the domestic market.

In the process of issuing these types of bonds, the TMG notes, it is important to obtain certification under international standards or other forms of external review to demonstrate that the use of proceeds is in alignment with the intended objectives and related requirements. This, in turn, helps attract investment.

Until recent times, however, international standards for bonds designed to foster resilience had not been promulgated.

In this context, the Climate Bonds Initiative, a globally recognized authority in establishing bond issuance standards, has updated the Climate Bonds Standard and launched the Criteria for Certification under the Climate Bonds Resilience Taxonomy in August 2025.

This development thereby facilitates investments in climate change adaptation and resilience. The Tokyo bonds are scheduled to be issued as the world’s first resilience bond to be certified under this scheme.

Through this certification, the TMG, it highlights, aims to enhance investor confidence in its bonds.