Largest Nordic fund manager to divest from coal

Nordea Asset Management is set to blacklist around 40 coal mining companies from its investment portfolio, as the company joins a growing trend of investors cutting their exposure to fossil fuel assets.

Nordea is the largest Nordic fund manager with US$228 billion of assets, making it one of the largest firms to date to take steps to exclude carbon-intensive assets from its portfolio. 

The Financial Times reported that the Nordea would finalise its exclusion list by the end of March and that it would likely affect some €100 million of the fund manager’s total assets.

Sasja Beslik, head of corporate governance at the group, said the process would be based on identifying companies for exclusion that have a "large and sustained exposure" to thermal coal mining.

Nordea’s announcement comes amid a continuing trend of divestment from coal and other fossil fuels.

Over 800 institutions have already committed to reducing their exposure to coal and other fossil fuel-driven companies over concerns that governmental action to combat climate change has made these investments more risky.

There is resistance to fossil-fuel divestment in the US, where legislation is under way that could force Calpers and Calstrs, two of the biggest US public pension funds, to divest completely from coal.

The pension funds published a joint statement in December arguing against forced divestment. “We firmly believe that engagement is the first call of action,” they said.

Edited from various sources by Sam Dodson

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/coal/20012015/nordea-asset-management-divests-from-coal-1763/