Sampension: Investors pressure the world’s biggest emitters on climate targets

3 November 2023

A broad circle of Danish and international investors – including Sampension – are now joining forces to get the world’s largest emitters to set themselves more ambitious climate targets.

Thus, more than 360 financial institutions and multinational companies with assets worth a total of 33 trillion dollars have joined the CDP Science-Based Targets (SBT) Campaign, which the organization CDP is behind. Here they engage in dialogue with over 2,100 companies that have a significant CO2 emission, with the aim of getting the companies to set themselves scientifically based climate targets, which support the Paris Agreement’s goal of reducing global warming to 1.5 degrees.

“The extreme weather that we see more and more often here at home also clearly emphasizes that climate change is increasing and that more and faster action is needed if we are to end global warming. And in order to succeed in that, it is absolutely crucial that we get the world’s largest emitters to adapt,” says Jacob Ehlerth Jørgensen, Head of ESG at Sampension.

“Here, in our view, the investors play an important role in pressuring these companies to take steps in a greener direction. It is a difficult task, and of course the changes do not happen overnight. But we believe that we, as active owners, can best contribute to getting the companies to change their behavior by, together with other responsible investors, making demands for climate progress – which is also the goal of this initiative,” he says.

The SBT campaign is an annually recurring initiative, and since its inception in 2020, over 470 companies with significant CO2 emissions have either set or committed to set science-based climate targets as a result of the campaign.

Source: Sampension