By Jacob Gronholt-PedersenCOPENHAGEN: Danish pension fund PKA, with some $46 billion under asset management, said on Thursday it has excluded 35 oil and gas companies from its investment portfolio over failure to live up to the goals of the Paris climate agreement.
PKA, which has previously excluded 70 coal companies and is an active investor into climate-friendly technology such as offshore wind power, said it would target carbon emissions in the automotive industry next.
The move comes as big investors are scrutinizing their exposure to fossil fuels and stepping up pressure on the world's biggest corporate greenhouse gas emitters to combat climate change.
The excluded oil and gas companies include Anadarko, Chesapeake Energy, Marathon Oil, Apache, Gazprom, Inpex, Lukoil, Rosneft and Sinopec, PKA said.
Chief Executive Peter Damgaard Jensen said PKA had reviewed 62 oil and gas companies to check if they had the "right managerial focus on the Paris agreement in their investments."
Of those, 15 will be added to an observation list with the aim to push them in a more climate-friendly direction, while 12 companies will remain in PKA's portfolio.
PKA, which oversees the retirement income of 300,000 Danish workers, said it would also put pressure on the automotive industry which it said accounts for about 16 percent of global CO2 emissions.
"Automakers that don't invest in the development of electric and hybrid cars will pose a financial risk, as electric cars will be more attractive to consumers in line with technological developments," said Jensen.
"At PKA, we will have the same critical approach to the automotive industry, as we have to coal and oil," he said.
The International Energy Agency estimates that 600 million cars need to be converted to electric or hybrid by 2040 to meet targets under the Paris agreement.
($1 = 6.0201 Danish crowns)