Stockholm (NordSIP) – Danske Invest is set to divest from roughly 90 companies involved in tar sands and thermal coal to comply with Danske Bank’s commitment to the Paris Accord to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius, it announced Tuesday (February 27th).
The move follows former Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) Global Head of RI Strategy and ESG Integration Ulrika Hasselgren’s accession to Head of Responsible Investments with Danske Invest on February 1st.
Any company generating 30 per cent or more of its revenue from tar sands and thermal coal will be excluded from Danske Invest’s portfolio, alongside companies using these fuels as an energy source for production efforts.
Danske Invest will publish its updated exclusion list this month. Investment restrictions will be implemented during Q1 2018.
“Thermal coal and tar sands are some of the most compromising fossil fuel resources and affect the environment significantly,” Hasselgren said. “ These investment restrictions are [just] one of our actions in 2018, as part of our commitment to sustainable investments in the years to come.”
Danske Invest has been working assiduously to improve on its sustainability efforts in recent years. For example, it launched Danske Invest European Corporate Sustainable Bonds, a sustainable investment fund, in November 2016.
Nonetheless, the move comes at an opportune moment for Danske Bank Group. Danske is currently under investigation for alleged money-laundering operations at its Estonian branch said to benefit the Russian government.
Image: (c) shutterstock – djdarkflower