Folksamgruppen adopts new climate targets by 2025 for the investment portfolios
1 April 2021
Great emphasis is placed on advocacy work when the climate footprint from equities, corporate bonds and real estate is to be reduced by 29 percent by 2025. Folksam currently manages around SEK 500 billion for more than three million customers.
Folksamgruppen is today publishing new climate targets for 2025 for the investment portfolios, where the climate footprint from equities, corporate bonds and real estate will be reduced by 29 percent. The emissions target will primarily be achieved by influencing the companies in which the Folksam Group has invested in reducing its emissions. In addition, the Folksam Group adopts new goals to promote the availability of green investments.
Folksamgruppen is one of seven 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. The members have committed that their investment portfolios will show net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The alliance currently has over 30 members whose total investment portfolios amount to close to SEK 50,000 billion. The targets that Folksamgruppen publishes today are the first sub-targets on the road to net zero emissions.
“We are committed to climate change so that our customers feel safe in a sustainable world. Our goal of net zero emissions by 2050 is ambitious, but it is not enough. It must be broken down into equally ambitious sub-goals, linked to credible plans and followed up regularly, ”says Ylva Wessén, Folksam’s President and CEO. “With our customers’ SEK 500 billion behind us, we look forward to working towards our new sub-goals, and thus continue our long-term work of contributing to a restructuring of the investment portfolios in line with the goals in the Paris Agreement.”
The Folksam Group’s new climate goals for 2025 and the overall work within the alliance include a stated ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the real economy. To achieve this, Folksamgruppen plans to try to influence the companies we own to take greater responsibility in climate change. By 2025, the goal is for at least 50 percent of the 86 largest emissions in the Folksam Group’s investment portfolios to have adopted scientifically based climate targets.
“We want to ensure that climate work is strategically anchored in the companies that the Folksam Group owns, especially among the companies that today have the largest climate footprint,” says Michael Kjeller, Head of Asset Management and Sustainability and Deputy CEO of Folksam. “Significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the real economy does not happen overnight, and therefore powerful advocacy work will be an important part of our work in the coming years.”
In addition to more of the companies we own setting scientifically based climate targets, Folksamgruppen has also adopted a quantitative climate target where emissions from equities, corporate bonds and real estate will be reduced by 29 percent by 2025. The target will primarily be achieved through advocacy activities, while divestments may be relevant in the In the event that a specific company does not show sufficient willingness or ability to restructure its operations in line with the objectives of the Paris Agreement. In addition, Folksamgruppen has adopted goals to promote the availability of green investments, among other things through closer dialogue with players in the primary market.
Folksamgruppen’s climate goal 2025 – further information to editors:
Impact
Folksamgruppen has identified the 121 largest greenhouse gas emissions in the Group’s investment portfolios. Until 2025, the Folksam Group will, through general meetings, direct meetings and other advocacy activities, in its own name or in collaborations with others, work to ensure that the companies on the list gradually improve their reporting and objectives linked to climate change. Companies that are already covered by the Folksam Group’s existing climate impact initiatives have been removed from the list of the 121 largest emissions. The remaining 86 companies have since been divided into four different categories depending on the level of their climate goals and reporting at today, with sub-goals linked to each category. The overall goal, however, is that at least 50 percent of these 86 companies must have adopted scientifically based climate goals by 2025,Science Based Targets Initiative or equivalent. At present, that figure is 23 percent.
Emission reduction
Folksamgruppen continues to build on the work done in 2019 with the new goal of reducing emissions of carbon dioxide equivalents by a further 29 percent by 2025. The asset classes covered are shares, corporate bonds and real estate. The goal must primarily be achieved through advocacy activities aimed at the respective asset. At the same time, divestments may become relevant in cases where the Folksam Group – despite repeated attempts to influence – does not see sufficient willingness or ability to adapt in line with the goals in the Paris Agreement.
Promoting the availability of green investments
Folksamgruppen’s goal until 2025 is to further develop its relations with issuers and other players in the primary market, in order to promote the availability of green investment alternatives. This will be achieved through, among other things, dialogue meetings and advocacy activities, in order to clarify the link to sustainability in future investment products and encourage more players in the primary market to create climate adaptation strategies.
Source: Folksam
