Sweden's Swedbank Robur joins growing investor oil and gas exodus

STOCKHOLM: Swedbank Robur, one of Scandinavia's largest asset managers, said it would no longer invest in oil and gas companies, unless they are on course to be carbon neutral by 2050.

Investors in the Nordic region have been at the vanguard of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing and in recent years have turned their focus on the bigger greenhouse gas emitters in a range of industries.

"We want to contribute to a more sustainable development in society, by shifting our investments towards sustainable alternatives and thus influence others to do the same," Liza Jonson, chief executive of Swedbank Robur, said on Tuesday.

Swedbank Robur, which has 1.4 trillion Swedish crowns worth of assets ($169 billion) under management, said it would continue to invest in companies that are on course to be carbon neutral by 2050, a central goal of the Paris Agreement.

It added that these companies would be reported on "Green List" compiled by the asset manager.

Funds have been using metrics such as excluding companies that derive more than 30% of their revenue from thermal coal, monitoring their lobbying on climate change or testing business models in a low-carbon society.

In November, a group representing European and US investors said the U.S risked falling behind the drive to create a cleaner global economy after President Donald Trump in 2017 pulled out of the Paris Agreement.

However, Joe Biden intends to reverse many of Trump's environmental policies, including rejoining the Paris accord, with the President-elect saying he wants to put the U.S on course to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.