Pedestrians walk past a signboard of Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) in Tokyo on Nov 13, 2015. (KAZUHIRO NOGI / AFP)

TOKYO – Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan’ biggest bank, and Sumitomo Corp, one of the country’s largest trading houses, are being targeted with climate resolutions from activist shareholders at their annual shareholder meetings.

Shareholders at Mizuho Financial Group, Japan’s third-biggest bank, voted on a similar resolution at its annual general meeting (AGM) last year.

While the proposal to align Mizuho’s business with the 2015 Paris climate accord was defeated, it was the first listed company in the country to hold such a vote, and support for the resolution, at 35 percent, showed Japanese attitudes were changing

While the proposal to align Mizuho’s business with the 2015 Paris climate accord was defeated, it was the first listed company in the country to hold such a vote, and support for the resolution, at 35 percent, showed Japanese attitudes were changing.

Once a rarity and easily rebuffed, shareholder votes on environmental issues have become increasingly common elsewhere and have helped to force corporate and financial change in the United States and Europe.

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A shareholder proposal submitted on Friday to Mitsubishi UFJ, which holds its AGM in June, called on the bank to outline how it will align investment and financing to Paris goals, according to a copy seen by Reuters.

“The aim of the proposal is to manage the company’s exposure to climate change risks, and maintain and increase its corporate value,” said an explanatory note in the resolution, which is being sponsored by Kiko Network, a Japanese non-government organisation that had also brought the Mizuho resolution, and Rainforest Action Network.

MUFG declined to comment on whether it had received the resolution, although it said it was considering tightening lending policies.

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Like other Japanese banks, MUFG has put more conditions on lending to coal projects in recent years amid rising concerns about emissions from burning the fuel.

The proposal submitted on Friday to Sumitomo, which holds its AGM in June, by the group Market Forces called on the company to adopt and disclose a business strategy to align itself with the Paris goal of limiting global temperature increases to 1.5 degree Celsius.

Sumitomo said it was checking the contents of the Market Forces resolution and did not comment further.

The language of the resolutions is very similar to those used elsewhere by environmentally conscious investors to push banks out of financing the dirtiest fossil fuel industries, like coal.