The governmental Development Bank of Japan will from next April offer a new loan with interest rates linked to recipient companies' commitments on environmental measures, DBJ officials said Saturday.

DBJ will become the first Japanese bank to introduce such a loan program, which is designed to support environmentally friendly activities by corporations, they said.

Subject to the new loan will be capital spending designed for environmental preservation and funds used for recycling products.

Many manufacturers, particularly those responsible for emitting greenhouse gases and disposing of waste, have made commitments to undertake environmentally friendly activities.

But such engagement by financial institutions has lagged, although the institutions can have a large impact on corporate activity by changing terms and conditions on investment and loans.

DBJ apparently intends to prompt private financial institutions to introduce such a program by making its assessment knowhow public.

The bank's environmental rating will have a 127-point check list, including companies' efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and waste, the officials said.

Depending on their marks on check points, companies will be graded A, B, C or "failure," and interest rates will be differentiated accordingly. The bank will also offer different terms when it guarantees debts issued by businesses for private placement.

In grading, the bank will apply easier standards to small and medium-size companies, the officials said. Consideration will be given, for example, to small companies which have not achieved numerical targets in waste disposal but have promised to make efforts to do so, the officials said.