Swedbank Robur Case Study

Net Zero Asset Managers initiative: Target disclosure announcement – Swedbank Robur Fonder

What does your initial interim target look like?
Our interim target is 88%, which means that around USD 126 billion of our total assets are committed to be managed in line with net zero. Our baseline year is 2019, and assets are subject to a number of additional targets by 2030, including goals for Scope 1 and 2 emissions and the proportion of assets in material sectors that aligned or aligning with net zero. Our net zero timeline is an aggressive one, being set at 2040 with a 50% decarbonisation by 2030 intensity-based target. We are also tracking absolute carbon emissions to ensure that these are close to zero by 2040.

Can you elaborate on the methodology and scenarios you have used in setting this target?
We have used the Paris Aligned Investment Initiative’s Net Zero Investment Framework and focused on the IEA’s NZE 2050 scenario, which we have adjusted for 2040 to generate our decarbonisation and solutions curves.

How did you approach deciding what to include in scope for your initial target?
The scope of AUM to be managed in line with net zero includes corporate bonds and equities for funds covered by our policy for responsible investments. It does not include our discretionary mandates, rate funds and alternative investments, however targets will be developed for these in the future when appropriate methodologies are available.

What are you plans when it comes to setting a policy on coal and other fossil fuel investments?
From 2021 we have adopted an aggressive exclusion policy on fossil hydrocarbon-based extraction and power generation. This has resulted in an approximate decrease of 50% in the carbon intensity of our aggregated investments in the last three years, and led to us being one of the top five large asset managers globally according to CDP and Climetrics ratings.