Swedbank Robur Sustainable Investments 2020
Swedbank Robur's annual report Sustainable Investments presents how the fund company integrate, support and push sustainability issues through their investments. At the beginning of 2020, Swedbank Robur started the implementation of their climate strategy, and launched six funds defined to be managed in line with the Paris Agreement. Swedbank Robur Råvarufond was also transformed into Transition Energy - and got a new and changed investment focus to encompass companies that contribute to the energy supply of the future. In addition, the fund company’s Policy for Responsible Investments was sharpened further – and three new strategies for include, exclude and engage were added.
Climate issues continues to be high up on the public agenda, and for Swedbank Robur, this has been a prioritized focus since several years. As part of this, the fund company adopted a new climate strategy, with two overall ambitious goals; that the total fund capital shall be managed in line with the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees by 2025 and be carbon neutral by 2040.
“Our vision to be a world leader in sustainable value creation combined with our stated focus on the climate issue, places an expectation on Swedbank Robur to go first and inspire change. During the year, we continued to break down the tough goals we have set in our climate strategy into concrete action plans, and integrated them into our investment strategies, processes and portfolio management. We want to continue working to shift capital in a more sustainable direction and take a clear position in issues that are important to our customers, the companies we invest in and the development ahead", says Liza Jonson, CEO of Swedbank Robur.
Swedbank Robur's investee sustainability dialogues during the year spanned many areas, and a total of 948 company contacts were made. In the company dialogues, the questions have ranged from the need to map its supply chain to understand sustainability risks throughout the value chain to, energy efficiencies, climate goals, more women and better diversity on Boards. With the ongoing pandemic, the issues have to some extent been a little different from previous years. Here, the fund company has, for example, requested how the companies handle safety and health issues for their employees, as well as the handling of redundancies and support for laid-off staff.
“As Sweden's largest fund company, we have an opportunity and a responsibility to continue to drive, support and inspire the companies in their sustainability work. The pandemic contributed to us increasingly switching to digital meetings during the year, and we do not see that it has affected our opportunities to influence based on our ownership role", says Pia Gisgård, Head of Sustainability and Corporate Governance at Swedbank Robur.
Swedbank Robur's Policy for responsible Investments was also further sharpened during the year and the criteria for opting out of fossil fuels were extended to encompass, in addition to coal, investments in companies producing oil and gas, and companies that have a direct business linked to unconventional extraction of oil, gas, oil sand/gas and shale oil/gas*.
“We see our work with sustainability issues as a continuous and active process, not as a project with an end date. During the year, we further processed and sharpened our Policy for responsible investments and clearly defined our value foundation, what methods we work by and what is important to us when we make an investment", says Pia Gisgård.
In connection with the report Swedbank Robur Sustainable Investments 2020, the report Application of principles for shareholder engagement 2020 is also published.
More information:
Swedbank Robur Sustainable Investments 2020 (Swedish)
Swedbank Robur Application of principles for shareholder engagement 2020 (Swedish)
Contact:
Carina Sesser Nylund, Press manager, Swedbank Robur ph. +46 72 230 52 64
Risk information
Historical growth is no guarantee of future yields. The value of your fund savings can both rise and fall, which is why there can be no guarantee that you will get back your original investment. A fund categorized as risk class 6-7 has a high risk both for increases and decreases in the value of the fund units. Please read prospectuses available on our website or visit a retailer.
*With the exception of selected transition companies. These will be reported on Swedbank Robur's Green List (www.swedbankrobur.se).
Swedbank Robur is a wholly owned subsidiary to Swedbank and active in Swedbank´s four home markets. Swedbank Robur was founded in 1967 and offers more than 80 mutual funds, institutional and discretionary asset management and management of pension funds. The number of customers is 3 million in Sweden and 1 million in the Baltic countries. Assets under management are approximately SEK 1678 billion (2020). Swedbank Robur’s vision is to become a world leader in sustainable value creation.
