Sustainable Asset Management: Denmark in the lead
23.11.2020
The responsibility for reducing the financial sectors CO2 imprint is an important task and must be solved in unity.
This is the opinion of the industry association Investment Denmark, who presented ambitious plans for sustainable asset management in connection with the ‘Climate Investment Summit’, which has been held between the Danish government, Investment Denmark and the Financial Association of Denmark.
Investment Demark, on behalf of its members, will be the first investment industry in the world who promises to reduce the CO2 footprint of their population’s private investments. Simultaneously, a new set of industry recommendations has been launched, which sets a high bar for sustainability in the industry.
In 10 years time, the Danes’ private investments must leave a CO2 footprint that is at least 75% smaller than the present CO2 footprint of the world equity index. The new target will give an overall reduction of approximately 430,000 tonnes of CO2 per year until 2030. This is equivalent to removing 170,000 cars from the roads.
“Ultimately, it is our customers' decision what they invest in. However, we can be available by providing products and advice that support the green transition, and we have many years of experience in integrating our customer’s need into our solutions. We can draw on this experience when we offer strategies that focus on climate and sustainability, and which at the same time perform well”, says Flemming Larsen, Head of Clients at Jyske Capital.
At the same time, he emphasizes that Jyske Capital is also aware of the industry association's new recommendations when it comes to thinking about sustainability in the business more generally. “Responsibility is already an element in many parts of our business - from our analyzes of possible investments to concrete investment decisions and active ownership in the companies in which we invest. The objective over the next few years will to be even sharper on that part, without compromising our commitment to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns”, says Flemming Larsen.