Danish pension company PFA has entered into an agreement with landowners and the municipality of Copenhagen to strengthen biodiversity in the city.

Included in the agreement are 19 of the largest landowners in Copenhagen, including other pension companies, such as PensionDanmark.

The agreement entered into force on 22 May 2024 and will be reviewed after two years.

PFA noted that properties have a major impact on their surroundings and, as one of Denmark’s largest real estate investors, it has a “large and important task” to undertake in relation to providing more space for biodiversity and wild nature.

It said that the agreement must be a driving force for the existing biodiversity in the city to be preserved and improved, alongside creating new biodiversity across municipal, public, state, and private land in Copenhagen.

In total, the municipality of Copenhagen and the 19 landowners that are part of the agreement control more than 40 per cent of the city’s entire land area.

"If we are to ensure that Copenhagen is also a green city in the future, where Copenhageners have access to urban nature and where biodiversity has good conditions, then it is absolutely crucial that we act together,” commented Copenhagen Lord Mayor, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen.

“That's why I'm happy on behalf of nature and proud that so many actors responsible for the city's land are today joining forces to increase biodiversity in the city. It's about thinking about biodiversity in everything from the development of new urban areas to renovation and new construction on the city's existing sites.”

The agreement will, among other things, screen areas in Copenhagen for special potential to improve the conditions of biodiversity.

The screening will be initiated before the summer and will provide recommendations and an overview of where biodiversity can be improved.

The parties must also prepare a baseline for their areas so that the development of biodiversity can be monitored.

"The partnership is a natural extension of the work that we are currently rolling out on our property portfolio across the country,” said PFA property manager, Peter Morgan.

“In collaboration with external consultants, we have mapped the biodiversity potential on all our properties, and are now assessing which specific actions need to be initiated.”

The partnership also focuses on sharing knowledge about biodiversity through annual partnership meetings, where the agreement's results, efforts and best practice are presented and discussed.

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