Denmark’s P+ has halved the carbon footprint of its investment portfolio and launched a new biodiversity master plan.

Publishing its Corporate Responsibility Report 2023, the pension provider detailed the milestones it made in its work in the climate area. By the end of 2023, P+ had achieved a CO₂ reduction of 48 per cent from equities, corporate bonds and directly owned properties compared to 2019.

This means that the 2025 target of a 45 per cent reduction has been achieved two years ahead of schedule.

P+ CEO, Kåre Hahn Michelsen, said: "Through targeted efforts, we have already met our 2025 target and almost halved the carbon footprint of the part of the investment portfolio for which we have sufficiently accurate data…. our active ownership will become increasingly important in the coming years as we look towards the next interim target of a 65 per cent reduction by 2030.”

Since 2019, P+ has had a sharper focus on fossil fuel companies and has continuously opted out of oil and gas companies, among others. In 2023, the last two major oil and gas companies remaining in the portfolio were added to the opt-out list when P+ opted out of ENI and Repsol. This means that P+ has opted out of fossil and CO2-intensive companies worth DKK 2.3bn since 2019.

At the same time, it has continuously increased its investments that support the green transition. In 2023 alone, P+ invested approximately DKK 2bn in renewable energy.

In addition, 2023 was also the year when P+ launched its first plan to counteract the loss of biodiversity. As a result, P+ has joined two of the leading international investor initiatives in this area, Spring, led by the UN-backed PRI network, and Nature Action 100.

"There are still many unknowns in the work of inventorying and measuring biodiversity. But a data challenge should not be a barrier to action. That is why we have joined the two ambitious international investor collaborations as part of our efforts to increase our active ownership with a focus on biodiversity. Through our international collaboration, we are now in dialogue with more than 180 companies about their impact on biodiversity. And we will continue to build on these efforts," Hahn Michelsen said.

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