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    Nordic & UK Pensions Make Joint Clean Energy Pledge

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    Stockholm (NordSIP) – On the third day of the COP26, Nordic and UK pension funds came together to announce a collective financial commitment of US$130 billion to be invested in clean energy and climate investments by 2030, under the auspices of the Climate Investment Coalition (CIC). Pension funds will also report annually on the progress of their climate investments.The pledge was endorsed by the governments of all Nordic countries.

    “Green transition requires massive investments. Governments have to do their part and commit to a new green future. But we also need private investors on board. In 2019, Danish pension funds committed to invest 55 billion dollars in the green transition by 2030. I am proud that we have inspired others and that Nordic and UK pension funds are now ready to invest 130 billion dollars in total by 2030,” says Mette Frederiksen (Pictured), Prime Minister, Denmark.

    - Partner Message -

    The CIC is an international public-private sector initiative between the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy & Utilities, Insurance & Pension Denmark, Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), Finance Denmark and World Climate Foundation. The coalition seeks to galvanise climate investments to support meeting global goals for climate and sustainable development. The next stage of CIC’s efforts, from 2022 and beyond, will endeavour to mobilise new commitments, in particular from investors in the EU, UK, U.S and others.

    “These ambitious pension funds are taking critical steps to ensure pensions take advantage of the enormous opportunities of the green transition, help spur immediate solutions to lower carbon emissions, while protecting our savings against the ravages of climate change. As we look ahead beyond COP26, we aim to grow these financial commitments, raising investor ambition to create a far-reaching impact by 2030,” adds Peter Damgaard Jensen, Co-Chair, Climate Investment Coalition.

    “Coalitions and partnerships play a crucial role in raising the bar in climate investments. The Climate Investment Coalition unlocks this potential and highlights the importance of public-private cooperation at the international level. There is still much to be done and the CIC commitments represent an important step on the path to net zero achieving a net zero economy by 2050,” explains Odd Arild Grefstad, CEO of Norway’s Storebrand Group.

    “Our goal is by 2030 to allocate at least USD 5 billion in assets that have a role to play in climate change. This decade is crucial for the world to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goal of net zero climate emissions by 2050, but the global need for investment amounts to trillions of dollars. If public and private capital mobilizes and cooperates, the gap can be closed. With our commitment in the Climate Investment Coalition, we want to show that the finance and pension industry is serious about climate transition,” continues Frans Lindelöw, CEO of Skandia in Sweden.

    “Varma updated its Climate Policy in late 2019. Varma began to track its Climate Allocation which is a cross-asset allocation that only includes companies and investments that positively contribute to climate change mitigation. This can be anything from green bonds and to companies that derive a significant portion of their revenue from cleantech and buildings that are operating 100% with emission free electricity and heating. Varma’s target is to reach a 20% climate allocation by 2025. Our goal is to influence, together with other investors, how fund managers take climate perspectives into account in their operations. We also actively highlight the fact that preparing for climate change offers significant investment opportunities.” Risto Murto, President and CEO of Finland’s Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company.

    “We at LÍV are very pleased to be a part of the efforts to change the course on environmental issues by increasing our green investments by 2030. We are also pleased that this can be done through a strong, international association like CIC,” concludes Jan Jakobsen, Group CEO of the Faroe Islands’ Lív Pension Fund.

    Image courtesy of UNclimatechange
    Filipe Albuquerque
    Filipe Albuquerque
    Filipe is an economist with 8 years of experience in macroeconomic and financial analysis for the Economist Intelligence Unit, the UN World Institute for Development Economic Research, the Stockholm School of Economics and the School of Oriental and African Studies. Filipe holds a MSc in European Political Economy from the LSE and a MSc in Economics from the University of London, where he currently is a PhD candidate.

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