How Handelsbanken Fonder works towards its ambitious sustainability goals

How is work progressing regarding our sustainability goals, and which actions have the greatest impact? These are some of the questions that are answered in Handelsbanken Fonder’s new Sustainability and Corporate Governance Report and Climate Report.
“It’s when the goal has been set that the real work begins," says Magdalena Wahlqvist Alveskog, Chief Executive of Handelsbanken Fonder.

During the last year, Handelsbanken Fonder has worked intensely to develop processes that will improve the methods for measuring engagement activities. Handelsbanken Fonder’s new Sustainability and Corporate Governance Report and Climate Report describe the work needed in order to achieve a climate solution, and the challenges involved in measuring carbon dioxide intensity:

“It’s when you’ve set your objective that the real work begins. We have, among other things, moved seven passively managed mutual funds to indices that align with the climate goals of the Paris Agreement – indices that the fund company itself was a driving force behind. This means that during the year, we’ve reallocated approximately SEK 150 billion towards a more sustainable direction," says Magdalena Wahlqvist Alveskog, Chief Executive of Handelsbanken Fonder. 

Aurora Samuelsson, Head of Sustainability at Handelsbanken Fonder, highlights the culture of collaboration and Handelsbanken’s focus on sustainability as important success factors.

“If we were to focus exclusively on our own goals, we could choose to only invest in companies with low level climate impact. However, we believe that it will benefit the climate more if we get involved in other companies as well, to help them speed up their transition process. This work goes on every day, and will be visible in our results in the longer term,” she says.

What sort of year has it been for Handelsbanken Fonder?

“The pandemic has, to a certain extent, led to changed behaviour and new patterns of consumption, and it has also affected our view on sustainability. Digitalisation, healthcare, and green energy have become more urgent sustainability issues, and we constantly need to evaluate and raise the bar for companies and find solutions that can make the world more sustainable,” says Magdalena Wahlqvist Alveskog.

During the last year, the challenges within sustainability have also been more clearly linked to the context in which the companies operate.

“Our starting point has always been that we invest in companies – not countries; however, with the sanctions against Russia, it became clear that companies are greatly affected by the countries in which they operate. This shows that there are situations and contexts in which the difference between companies and countries is not clear-cut,” says Magdalena Wahlqvist Alveskog.

Handelsbanken Fonder’s Sustainability and Corporate Governance Report is currently only available in Swedish.
Read Handelsbanken Fonder’s Climate Report here.

For more information, please contact:
Handelsbanken’s Press Office, +46 8 701 80 18, press@handelsbanken.se

For more information about Handelsbanken, please see: www.handelsbanken.com