PensionDanmark received the honourable award as “Pension fund of the year” when Environmental Finance at the Sustainable Investment Awards 2021 awarded some of the most responsible and sustainable investors worldwide.

The recognition of the largest labour market pension fund in Denmark were among other things given for a firm strategic decision to combine investments in green infrastructure among others with good returns for members with a positive impact on the world and the climate, the members are part of.

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One judge praised PensionDanmark for its "great holistic movements and constant evolution" while another labelled it a "cost-effective and responsible" asset owner.

”Corporate Social Responsibility is an essential part of our DNA, and being awarded as the sustainable pension fund of the year is an important recognition of our work. By focusing on measuring our impact – negative as well as positive – and by disclosing our targets, we are raising the bar for our corporate social responsibility efforts,” says Torben Möger Pedersen, CEO of PensionDanmark.

Taking the lead on sustainable investing
The jury also noted how PensionDanmark in recent years has led the way in its work with ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) by ensuring greater openness and validity regarding the impact of the sustainable efforts. As the first pension provider in Denmark, PensionDanmark decided to include ESG ratios in its independent auditors' report in 2019. Since then, the work for more transparent and standardised methods of calculation of ESG-efforts in the financial sector has been intensified with an expansion of revised key ratios and targets.

”Measuring the impact of our efforts is a prerequisite for succeeding as it makes the development clear and lays out a foundation for us to commit to higher ambitions. Because you get what you measure,” says Torben Möger Pedersen.

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PensionDanmark is one of the 50 largest pension funds in Europe. By the end of 2020, the non-profit labor market pension fund had EUR 36 billion under management.