In 2020, impact opportunities are easier to find and more accessible than ever for asset owners. The definitions are clearer, the goals are tangible and the financial performance delivers on target. Impact has earned its space in institutional allocations.
This report includes interviews with Peter Lööw from Alecta, Malene Bason from ATRIUM Kapitalförvaltning, Magdalena Lönnroth of the Church Pension Fund (Finland), Irene Mastelli from Maloja Advisory and Rik Vyverman from responsAbility as well as contributions from Johanna Raynal at Swedfund, Guillaume Mascotto, American Century Investments, Hans Stegeman at Triodos Investment Management and Ingrid Kukuljan at Federated Hermes. Read it here.
In the news this week, Storebrand, PKA and PenSam have committed to investing up to SEK43 billion in a new climate and infrastructure fund, the AIP Infrastructure II, the largest such fund in the Nordic region, according to Jan Erik Saugestad, CEO of Storebrand Asset Management.
On November 11th, Länsförsäkringar announced the exclusion of companies that are active in the exploration and extraction of oil and gas for Länsförsäkringar Liv, Fondliv and Sak. The exclusions were described as the latest step the company’s climate-smart vision of limiting global warming to 1.5˚C by 2030.
In the race for transparency and visibility of carbon emissions, German financial indices provider Solactive purchased a minority stake in Spark Change, a green FinTech company.
Oxford University Endowment Management (OUem), a subsidiary of the university, has partnered with BlackRock to launch a new fossil-fuel screened index fund. The new fund provides OUem with a CO2-free investment portfolio. Back in the Nordics, Lyxor Asset Management announced the listing of the Lyxor S&P Global Developed Paris-Aligned Climate (EU PAB) (DR) UCITS ETF – Acc on Nasdaq Stockholm.
The recent success of green bonds is well illustrated by the buoyant demand for Landshypotek and Munifin’s recent forays into the market. Encouraged by these bond issuances and by good news regarding COVID-19, market conditions appear to be encouraging even more issuers to come to the market in the coming weeks.
Last but not least, Schroders published its annual Institutional Investor Study. The report finds that active engagement and stewardship are becoming increasingly important tactics for investors at the same time as they are expressing increasing concerns about greenwashing.
