Folksam publishes on it’s website:
The Folksam Group has adopted new climate targets to reach net zero emissions in its asset portfolios by 2050. One of the new targets is to reduce the CO2 footprint by 50 percent for stocks, corporate bonds, alternative investments and real estate by 2030.
Folksam has already met the previous climate targets as of January 1, 2025. For example, the CO2 footprint for stocks, corporate bonds and real estate has decreased by 29 percent from 2019.
The Folksam Group’s new climate targets for 2030 are important steps on the path to reaching the Folksam Group’s net zero target by 2050. The new targets are in line with the UN’s climate panel’s 1.5-degree scenario and raise the level of ambition significantly by being even more concrete and measurable than before.
– We have worked to develop new interim targets for 2030 and have taken the next step with a broader perspective on the issue of climate transition by including Just Transition and also having clearer expectations for the incentive programs of company management. We see great advantages in setting scientifically based climate goals, but do not want the social consequences of the transition to be forgotten. In some cases it is a difficult balancing act, says Emilie Westholm, Head of Responsible Ownership.
The new sub-goals cover three main areas: advocacy work towards companies in which we have ownership, capital allocation strategies – that is, the work to reduce emissions in the share portfolio, and overall work to spread and increase knowledge in the area, so-called field building.
Folksam follows the Net Zero Alliance (NZAOA) framework for climate targets.
The Folksam group has decided on the following interim goals for 2030:
- Impact of companies we have ownership in (Engagement targets)
- The Folksam Group will influence one hundred of the holdings with the largest emissions as well as all selected fund companies within unit-linked insurance to gradually meet more of the four criteria that have been identified for a successful climate transition. The criteria are that –
- The company has a net zero target
- The company has a scientifically based climate target according to the Science Based Target Initiative
- The company addresses just transition (Just Transition is a framework for social sustainability developed by the trade union movement)
- Management has sustainability goals in its reward program
The 2030 target has the following distribution:
- 50 percent of companies meet two criteria
- 25 percent of companies meet three criteria
- 25 percent of companies meet all four criteria
- Reduce emissions (Sub-portfolio emission targets)
The Folksam Group strives to:
reduce the CO2 footprint by 50 percent for shares from base year 2019,
reduce the carbon footprint by 50 percent for corporate bonds from base year 2022
reduce the carbon footprint by 50 percent for alternative investments, and
Reduce the CO2 footprint by 50 percent for properties, from base year 2019.
- Promote climate solutions (Climate Solution Investment targets)
The Folksam Group commits to conducting fifteen dialogue meetings per year until 2030 to promote climate-related investment solutions. This could include dialogue with municipalities and fund company meetings – with the aim of encouraging issuers and similar players in the primary market to create or clarify a link to sustainability in future investment products.
Folksam has already met the previous interim targets for 2025. These were:
Goal 1: Impact (Engagement targets)
Influence the largest emission holdings towards a gradual improvement of climate targets (87 companies)
Influence has been achieved through dialogue with the companies and, in some cases, voting at the general meeting.
Goal 2: Emission reduction (Sub-portfolio emission targets)
Lower the carbon footprint of stocks, corporate bonds and real estate (-29% target for 2024)
The Folksam Group is one of the initiators of the global investor alliance UN-convened Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance, which was founded at the UN climate summit in New York in 2019.
All members of the alliance have committed to their investment portfolios having net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The climate work is yielding results; the alliance has so far reduced its total financed carbon footprint by over 6 percent per year since 2019, in line with the 1.5 degrees of the Paris Agreement.
Of the Net Zero Alliance’s total of 87 members, who manage a total holding of approximately SEK 100,000 billion – this corresponds to approximately 16 times Sweden’s GDP – 79 have set their own goals linked to the alliance’s new interim goals for 2030.
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