Danish pension company, PFA, has had 117 of its Danish residential and commercial classified as sustainable investments under the EU Taxonomy.

PFA can now put an EU sustainability stamp on its investments in Danish properties corresponding to a value of DKK 15.4bn. The recognition means the properties meet the requirements in areas such as climate change mitigation, biodiversity and decent working conditions, which are set out by the EU in the so-called Taxonomy that supports the goal of the EU being carbon neutral by 2050.

"As one of Denmark's largest real estate investors, it means a lot to us that we are at the forefront of the fight to make the real estate sector more sustainable,” PFA CIO, Kasper A.Lorenzen, said.

“The real estate sector has a major impact on our climate, the environment and the people who build and operate the properties. The real estate sector accounts for up to a third of CO2 emissions in Denmark. Therefore, we are proud to be able to call a large part of our real estate portfolio sustainable in relation to the EU's requirements for sustainable investments,” he continued.

"We firmly believe that sustainable real estate investments and returns go hand in hand, and we are increasingly seeing that Danes and businesses are demanding properties that meet high environmental and climate standards."

Over several years, PFA's property portfolio has undergone continuous improvements with a focus on climate protection and sustainability, such as retrofitting insulation, replacing windows, recycling and installing solar cells. The work to ensure that PFA's properties live up to the taxonomy has been done in collaboration with the Danish Council for Sustainable Building (RFBB), which has checked PFA's documentation for each property in relation to the EU requirements.

The EU Taxonomy came into force in January 2022 and will be rolled out gradually thereafter. It requires the largest companies with more than 500 employees to report on how well they meet a number of environmental sustainability parameters.

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