Denmark’s AkademikerPension and the Dutch fund ABP have been given a ‘gold award’ for their efforts in tackling climate change through their investments.

They are the only two pension funds in Europe to be recognised by the inaugural Net Zero Finance Report Card, produced by the Centre for Climate Finance & Investment (CCFI) at Imperial College Business School, in partnership with the Carbon Tracker Initiative (CTI). Globally, only three pension funds have been given the top award, with the New York City Retirement Systems (NYCERS, TRS, and BERS) being the third.

Authors Dr Iva Koci, Jean Sau and Amy Owens assessed the credibility of institutions’ climate commitments and actions based on evidence-based criteria and principles set by the UN Race to Net-Zero and the International Energy Agency’s net-zero by 2050 scenario.

The study scored financial companies according to whether they had explicit policies on eradicating financing for fossil fuel expansion or investment from their operations, as well as assessing the extent to which they had accomplished their aims. Nine institutions were given a gold award for their efforts out of the 50 institutions assessed.

Commenting, author Dr Iva Koci, said: “We see these awards as an assessment of financial institutions’ resilience – and leadership of their management – at a time of great and growing disruption of the incumbent fossil fuel system."

In response to being given the ‘gold’ standard, AkademikerPension CEO, Jens Munch Holst, said: "We are both happy and humbled to receive this recognition. Many of our members expect us to do our utmost to deliver a credible net-zero plan in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement to mitigate climate-related financial risks to their pension savings.

"This includes – in our view – a clear understanding that there is no need for new oil, gas or coal extraction and development in the International Energy Agency's (IEA) 2050 net-zero scenario.”

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