A fifth of Norwegian savers have checked where their employer invested their pension money, despite the vast majority believing it was important to invest in sustainable funds, research by Ipsos for Gjensidige Pensionsforsikring has found.

Gjensidige Pensjonsforsikring investment analyst and sustainability manager, Karoline Nakken, said that due to the “huge” sums of money in the world invested in pensions, it was “important” for savers to have a conscious relationship with where their money was invested and what they are helping to finance.

She added that through their pensions, savers can ensure companies that help achieve environmental or social goals receive more capital and see that companies not part of this change receive less.

“In the long term, we believe that the sustainable profiles have good prospects, and we believe that the companies that take sustainability risks into account have better prospects for future profitability,” Nakken said.

Gjensidige Pensionsforsikring said the legislation from the EU means that capital is moved in a “green” direction, making it gradually becoming more difficult to obtain financing for companies that do not contribute to restructuring.

However, the company warned it was important to be aware that a narrower investment universe could also entail a higher fluctuation risk than a traditional index.

Gjensidige Pensionsforsikring said it was currently experiencing great interest in sustainable pension profiles. Since the launch of the profiles in 2022, over 3,000 employees in Norwegian companies have moved NOK 1.4bn across.

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