Danish pension company Velliv has stated that it is “not at all on target” for reducing its investment portfolio’s carbon emissions, but that it is working hard to meet its targets.

In its 2022 annual climate report, Velliv revealed that the CO2 emissions from its listed equities and corporate bonds investment portfolio were 22 per cent lower than at the end of 2019.

The pension company’s target is to reduce the carbon emissions from its investments by 60 per cent by 2030 and to be net zero by 2050.

The portfolio has a lower carbon footprint than the benchmark, although the absolute emissions as well as the measures CO2 imprint from the portfolio increased in 2022 compared to 2021.

Despite this, the associated average temperature score fell by 0.2 degrees from 2021 to 2022.

In 2022, Velliv’s holdings of listed equities and corporate bonds totalled just under DKK 100bn.

The carbon footprint from Velliv's investment portfolio of listed equities and corporate bonds rose from 6.94 tCO2 per million kroner invested in 2021 to 8.91 tCO2 per million kroner invested in 2022.

This corresponds to an increase of 28 per cent.

Velliv said there were several reasons why the carbon footprint from its investment portfolio increased in 2022, in particular, the calculation method for calculating CO2 discharge, which contained “significant temporal shifts”.

“We believe that active ownership and cooperation with other investors will play a decisive role in reaching the goal,” Velliv stated.

“That is why we participate, among other things, in CDP's Science-Based Targets Campaign, where we, together with over 200 other global investors, encourage more than 1,200 companies to set reduction targets for their CO2 emissions.

“We believe that together with other investors we have a greater opportunity to influence companies and push them to develop in a direction that supports the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

"We succeed by documenting our actions and reporting on our progress. In this way, our customers can trust that we are ambitious and transparent about the work with climate in our investment portfolio and its CO2 footprint.

“Therefore, we also regularly encourage companies to publicly report on their climate impact.”

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