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At COP26 in Glasgow, a collective financial commitment of US$130 billion was announced by CEOs of Nordic and UK pension funds, to be invested in clean energy and climate investments by 2030. As part of this commitment, pension funds will also report annually on the progress of their climate investments.
The Climate Investment Coalition (CIC) is pleased to communicate this commitment from asset owners in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and the UK, in an aim to contribute to increasing global climate ambition and spur the global uptake of climate investments for the green transition by 2030. In addition, a pension fund from Greenland has declared its support.
“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.” H.E Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister, Denmark
CIC aims to create an international wave of climate investments to support meeting global goals for climate and sustainable development. The next stage from 2022 and beyond, will be to mobilise new commitments, in particular from investors in the EU, UK, U.S and others.
CIC works directly with committing institutional investors to ensure that commitments are being implemented, tracked and reported on annually to reach investment targets by 2030 or earlier. It 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.
"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.” Peter Damgaard Jensen, Co-Chair, Climate Investment Coalition
H.E Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister of Denmark, H.E Sauli Niinistö, President of Finland, H.E Bárður á Steig Nielsen, Prime Minister, Government of the Faroe Islands and H.E Mute B Egede, Premier, Government of Greenland, H.E Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Prime Minister, Government of Iceland, H.E Jonas Gahr Støre, Prime Minister, Government of Norway and H.E Stefan Löfven, Prime Minister, Government of Sweden were present at the announcement, along with Thorey Thordardottir, Managing Director of the Icelandic Pension Funds Association, Bo Foged, CEO of the Danish pension fund ATP and Kent Damsgaard, CEO of Insurance & Pension Denmark. Virtual statements were shared by Odd Arild Grefstad,
CEO of Storebrand Group in Norway, Frans Lindelöw, CEO of Skandia in Sweden, Reima Rytsölä, CIO, Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company and Jan Jakobsen, Group CEO of the Faroe Islands Lív Pension Fund.
The event was facilitated by Jens Nielsen, CEO of World Climate Foundation and Stephanie Pfeifer, CEO of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC).
