Finnish earnings-related pension provider, Varma, has joined the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF).

The partnership involves more than 180 banks and investors worldwide, and its goal is to harmonise the approach to assess and disclose greenhouse gas emissions associated with loans and investments.

“Varma has ambitious climate targets, and as a major investor we believe it is also our duty to monitor and advance a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. For this, we need harmonised data and reporting,” Hanna Kaskela, director of responsible investment, said.

Varma’s target is a carbon-neutral investment portfolio by 2035. To reach this target, the company has set interim targets for emission mitigation in different asset classes. For example, emissions from equity investments will be cut in half by 2027.

According to Kaskela, the participation in PCAF will strengthen the harmonised greenhouse gas accounting of Varma’s entire investment portfolio, as it provides a standard for measuring and disclosing financed emissions and access to an emission factor database.

“Already today, we gather emissions data from multiple companies, but in some asset classes, such as unlisted investments, the coverage of emissions data has been weaker. Thanks to PCAF, the transparency of our portfolio’s absolute emissions will increase significantly, which will help us to assess the climate-related impacts and risks of our investments more comprehensively,” Kaskela added.

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