11^th May 2020 – Danish pension fund PFA has become the 23^rd member of the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, bringing the total assets under management (AUM) to over US$ 4.6 trillion.

By joining the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, an initiative co-convened by PRI and UNEP FI, PFA has committed to transitioning its investment portfolio to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, consistent with a maximum temperature rise of 1.5°C target above pre-industrial temperatures, in accordance with the Paris Climate Agreement.

Allan Polack, Group CEO, PFA said: “With more than 1.3 million clients PFA has a special obligation to contribute to sustainable development of our society. Therefore, we have been working with integrating responsibility and sustainability in our investments for several years, and we are now taking a further step by committing to making our investment portfolio carbon-neutral by 2050. We are proud to be part of the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, and we will actively contribute to the cooperation between asset owners to make the Alliance stronger and its impact bigger.”

Kasper A. Lorenzen, Group CIO, PFA said: “In addition to the commitments we require from each other as participants, we can also use the initiative to share our experience. In some areas, climate-friendly investments are a relatively unknown field, and data quality can be a challenge. By joining together as some of the world’s largest investors, we can find better solutions to those problems than if we work separately.”

Bo Øksnebjerg, Secretary General, WWF Denmark said: “At WWF, we are very pleased that PFA is now committing to the Paris Agreement’s 1.5-degree target. The large amounts of money managed by the pension companies, enable the companies to have a decisive influence on the companies’ readiness to make green sustainable decisions.”

The 23-member alliance is actively encouraging other investors to join the commitment of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 demonstrating united investor action to align portfolios with a 1.5°C scenario.

Read more about the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance.