Meaningful Investments – Sustainable Growth

The Danish pension funds administer and invests savings of up to two times the GDP of Denmark. The main aim of these investments is to give the pension savers the best possible rate of return. These investments help create employment and growth, but they can also enable a sustainable transition.

Sustainable Finance

Public interest in sustainability has increased considerably in recent years. Danes have to a great extent adopted the sustainability agenda and increasingly demand products that are produced in a sustainable manner. Consequently, demand for pension funds to invest in e.g. renewable energy instead of fossil fuels is also on the rise.

The Danish pension industry plays an important role in facilitating a sustainable transition. Through its investments the Danish insurance and pension industry can assist the global effort to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals as well as the Paris Agreement on climate action. This is an essential part of what is referred to as Sustainable Finance.

Pledge to invest in the energy transition

In 2019 the Danish pension funds and Insurance & Pension Denmark made a pledge at the UN General Assembly to invest some 60 billion euros by 2030 in the green and clean transition. These investments are tracked on a yearly basis. Follow them here (in Danish).

EU initiatives

The European Commission has introduced a number of sustainability initiatives. Concrete outcomes of these initiatives will include a unified classification system for sustainable economic activities (the taxonomy) and regulation of how pension funds’ investments are to be disclosed, thereby enabling better transparency.

The Danish insurance and pension industry has worked with sustainable investments for many years and supports the clean energy transition. 

Regulation to promote sustainable development should be driven by transparency. The Danish insurance and pension industry has a tradition for openness and transparency and most insurance companies and pension funds have disclosed policies on how they invest in a responsible way.