Danish fund to protest against Nordea's climate goals at AGM - Reuters

Danish fund to protest against Nordea's climate goals at AGM | Reuters

Danish fund to protest against Nordea's climate goals at AGM

HELSINKI, March 22 (Reuters) - Danish pension fund AkademikerPension will not vote in favour of Nordea's (NDAFI.HE) chair at the bank's annual general meeting on Thursday, in protest at what the fund described as the bank's "deficient" climate plan.

"AkademikerPension believes the wise and responsible thing to do for banks and investors who pride themselves on being in the sustainability forefront is to cut off all financing for companies that expand fossil production," the fund said in a statement.

The Nordic region's biggest lender Nordea has said its objective is to become a bank with net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest and it is committed to not providing project financing dedicated to expanding and exploration of new oil and gas fields.

Yet, the bank still holds assets in oil majors such as Exxon (XOM.N) and Chevron (CVX.N), the Danish fund said.

"Given the gravity and seriousness of the climate threat, it's not a matter where we feel we can be lenient," Chief Investment Officer at AkademikerPension Anders Schelde told Reuters.

Nordea did not respond to Reuters' request for comment. Chairperson Stephen Hester is up for re-election at Thursday's meeting.

Schelde said the fund's new voting policy results in automatically refraining from supporting the chairman of banks, and high- and medium-emitting companies if they do not have a transition strategy aligned with the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

Nordea has also set a mid-term objective to reduce financed greenhouse gas emissions from its lending and investment portfolios by 40-50% by 2030.

"The way they've handled their fossil-related risk and business,... it's certainly better than many other banks, but it's not good enough in our view," Schelde said.

AkademikerPension holds a stake worth some 24.6 million euros in Nordea.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.