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An Insightful Look at Non-Financial Management Trends in Japan: The Momentum Keyword Awards 2026

In a groundbreaking analysis, Sustainable Lab Co., Ltd. has launched the Momentum Keyword Awards 2026, shedding light on the non-financial management trends among Japanese companies. With data extracted from integrated reports of TOPIX 500 firms during 2024 and 2025, amounting to about 50 million words, the awards reveal how companies communicate their non-financial and sustainability themes to investors and stakeholders.

Key Findings from the 2026 Analysis

The analysis identifies three major trends:
1. Shift from ESG Compliance to Value Creation: Integrated reports are moving from merely explaining ESG compliance to demonstrating how these efforts contribute to creating corporate value.
2. Expanding Non-Financial Themes: The focus has broadened beyond just environmental, social, and governance issues (ESG) to include topics like AI utilization, capital efficiency, geopolitical risks, supply chain management, and competitive advantage.
3. Moving Towards Implementation and Quantification: Disclosure themes such as SSBJ, TNFD/LEAP, human capital, human rights, and natural capital are progressing from merely addressing compliance to actual implementation and quantification.

What is the Momentum Keyword Awards?

The Momentum Keyword Awards are an exclusive initiative by Sustainable Lab aimed at analyzing changes in language use through integrated reports to visualize trends in sustainability management among Japanese firms. The evolution in keywords used in these reports is more than a reflection of linguistic trends; it highlights the specific non-financial themes that companies recognize as critical and how they frame these issues to their investors.

How the Awards Work

The Momentum Keyword Awards are structured around three analytical components:

• - Next Rising Trends Category: Ranks words that have seen the most significant increase in usage since the previous year.
• - Now Frequently Used Category: Ranks words that have been mentioned more frequently compared to last year.
• - Momentum Cycle 2026: Classifies words based on their usage across companies and the frequency of appearance, assessing what stage they are at in terms of corporate disclosure and implementation.

Highlights from the 2026 Keyword Analysis

Rising Trend Words: Key Topics

The Next Rising Trends segment revealed significant keywords reflecting the geopolitical landscape, such as Tariffs and AI Utilization, emphasizing the growing importance of global economic factors in corporate discourse. Terms like Value Creation consistently ranked first for the second consecutive year, suggesting a robust shift in reporting practices.

For instance, tariff-related words surged due to the political transitions in the U.S. and concerns over international trade, indicating that firms are increasingly discussing external economic conditions as direct management challenges.

Moreover, terms like Customer Harassment highlighted the emerging challenges firms face regarding human capital, illustrating a growing concern for employee wellbeing in the context of escalating labor shortages.

Frequently Used Words: Consistent Themes

The Now Frequently Used section showed that keywords related to Value Creation and AI not only remained relevant but also indicated a paradigm shift in how these topics are viewed in the broader economic strategy context. The emphasis is now on explaining these concepts within the framework of long-term corporate strategies rather than as isolated initiatives.

The mention of Governance and Outside Directors further underlines a significant transition towards explaining the effectiveness of governance structures, moving beyond mere operational setups.

The Momentum Cycle: Understanding Implementation

The Momentum Cycle consists of five stages: Emergence, Peak, Deepening, Integration, and Standard. Each stage depicts how themes evolve within organizational disclosures and their strategic importance. This comprehensive framework helps unpack how words change from being mere trends to essential components of corporate value creation narratives.

Upcoming Webinar

To delve deeper into the Momentum Keyword Awards findings, a free webinar is scheduled for June 4, 2026, at 12:00 PM. This session will illuminate the top 50 keywords and their historical context, helping to decode Japanese companies' evolving dialogue with stakeholders.

Registration for the webinar is available here.

About Sustainable Lab Co., Ltd.

Founded in January 2019 and based in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Sustainable Lab is at the forefront of utilizing big data and AI to quantify the non-financial contributions of companies. Their flagship products include the TERRAST platform, a non-financial data platform, and TERRAST for Enterprise, aiding organizations in analyzing and integrating ESG data into their corporate strategies effectively.

Sustainable Lab aims to create a seamless connection between societal contributions and economic benefits, thus enhancing the sustainability discourse within the business community. For more details on their work and initiatives, visit their official site at Sustainable Lab.