Denmark’s Industriens Pension is to reduce the climate footprint from its listed shares, corporate bonds and directly owned properties by at least 29 per cent from 2019 to 2025, as part of the journey towards a CO2-neutral investment portfolio by 2050.

In order to achieve its 2050 target, the pension fund said the climate footprint from its investments must fall noticeably year after year, and the dialogue with the largest CO2 emitters in the portfolio must be further intensified and systematised.

Next year, in 2024, the pension fund will set its next sub-targets running until 2030. Its membership of the global investor network, the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance, already formally commits the pension fund to making its investment portfolio CO2-neutral by 2050 at the latest.

The goal of achieving a climate-neutral portfolio is part of Industriens Pension's larger desire to influence society in a sustainable direction and to help support the objectives of the Paris Agreement on climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest.

It plans to do this by reducing its climate footprint by 2025, which is done by focusing on companies that show the will and ability to participate in the transition to a sustainable society.

“As active owners, Industriens Pension engages in dialogue with the companies about their plans and progress for a changeover. In some cases, the assessment is that a sufficient restructuring of the company's activities is not possible, and here, based on an overall assessment, Industriens Pension can choose not to invest in the company, or it can actively decide to exclude it,” the pension fund explained.

“Industriens Pension's exclusions apply to all companies with revenue from the extraction of thermal coal and oil companies with more than 5 per cent of revenue from the extraction of oil from tar sands.”

In addition, Industriens Pension is also engaging in dialogue with the 20 largest issuing companies in the portfolio and all external managers. Part of Industriens Pension's assets are managed externally, and therefore the company also strengthens the dialogue with the external managers on how they can help support the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

The pension fund is also continuing to focus on investments in climate solutions that help support the transition to a sustainable society. This applies, among other things, to direct investments in renewable energy such as wind turbines, solar cells and biogas, and this applies to other types of infrastructure investments in solutions that help support the transition to renewable energy.

Finally, the pension company also focuses on investing in small and medium-sized companies that develop various types of innovative sustainability solutions. These investments in climate solutions will continue to form a central part of Industriens Pension's investment strategy.

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