Nordea Life & Pensions commits to zero-emissions investment portfolio by 2050

Nordea Life & Pensions has joined the UN-convened initiative Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, thus committing to transitioning the investment portfolio to net-zero emissions by 2050. The commitment gives us and our customers alike, the chance to contribute to the fight against global warming.

The new alliance will develop models and frameworks to use as industry standards for measuring alignment with the target of keeping global warming under a maximum 1.5°C increase, the preferred target of the Paris Agreement.* Members will work with the companies they invest in to ensure that their business models are decarbonised while at the same time holding themselves publicly accountable on their own progress by setting and openly reporting on intermediate targets.

“Asset owners have an important role in the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy. We strongly believe that such a transition requires clear commitments, joint industry efforts and full transparency. We have joined the alliance because it represents a strong platform for enabling this”, said Katja Bergqvist, CEO of Nordea Life & Pensions.

The new alliance was initiated by Allianz, Caisse des Dépôts, La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), Folksam Group, PensionDanmark and Swiss Re at the beginning of 2019. Since then, Alecta, AMF, Nordea Life & Pensions, Storebrand, and Zurich have joined as founding members. Together these pension funds and insurers are responsible of placing more than $2.3 trillion in investments.

NLP’s commitment to the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance follows Nordea’s recent pledges to the Principles for Responsible Banking and to the Collective Commitment to Climate Action. It is in line with the view that companies that take action to transform toward a low carbon economy will have a financial edge on companies that are slow to adapt.

*The Paris Agreement targets keeping the increase in the global average temperature, versus pre-industrial levels, to well below 2°C. However, there are also ambitions to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C.