April 30, 2021

Candidates with green credentials now constitute a large part of the board in the Danish pension fund P+. This is clear after the members have cast their vote at the board election. The P+ pension fund invests 140 mia. DKK. (~20 bill. Euro) on behalf of 101.000 Engineers, Lawyers and Economists.

Two of the candidates with green credentials even achieved the most votes, signaling that the members support the P+ pension fund in its effort to Paris-align the investment portfolio. The newly elected board will represent its members for the next 3 years.

The election was historic in the sense that 4 candidates ran for the election because of dissatisfaction with the current board, and how it is misrepresenting its members on climate topics and other ESG-topics.

Their dissatisfaction was spurred by lack of action on decisions made at the annual general assembly in august 2020, where a majority of members voted for a rapid sale of coal mining companies as well as oil- and gas-companies that continues to lobby against the Paris agreement, and whose business model is generally incompatible with the Paris agreement. The candidateship for these 4 people were endorsed by advocacy groups AnsvarligFremtid (Responsible Future) and Demokratisk Erhvervsnetværk (Network for members of democratically governed institutions).

The 4 candidates were up against 3 candidates endorsed by the board itself. These board representatives had generally no intention to push the climate agenda further forward, and some of the candidates had advocated that they might consider to roll some of the climate progress back. Also, 2 independent candidates out of 9 ran for the election.


Fact sheet on board election

The election to the board took place between 12.april – 28.april
A total of 13% of the pension fund members cast their votes, results shown here:

Helle Munk Ravnborg              6.521 votes (endorsed by AnsvarligFremtid)
Kathrine Ehnhuus                    6.227 votes (endorsed by AnsvarligFremtid)
Peter Falkenham                     5.339 votes (endorsed by the current board)
Peter Løchte Jørgensen          5.288 votes (endorsed by the current board)
Thomas Damsgaard Tørsløv   5.098 votes (endorsed by AnsvarligFremtid)
Kenneth Karlsson                    5.032 votes (endorsed by AnsvarligFremtid)
Åse Kogsbøll                           4.205 votes (endorsed by the current board)
Michele Marques Fejø             2.717 votes (independent)
Heidi Birkler                             1.880 votes (independent)

The board consists of 7 members, a chair and six board members. The Chair and two board members are appointed by the labor unions Djøf and IDA. The remaining 4 members are elected among by the 101.000 members.

Link to the election results on the Pension Fund P+ website (danish)LINK


Fact sheet on recent P+ climate investment policy changes

March 2021. P+ publishes a report on holdings in CA100+ focus companies, including a full disclosure of reasons to divest or maintain investments in these companies. LINK / Danish

February 2021. P+ announce that 30 oil companies will now be sold, including Shell, Total and Pemex.
Holdings in Repsol, Eni, Equinor and BP will be kept, but these companies will be under strict observation for the next 6-12 month. LINK / Danish

December 2020. P+ announce a new strategy with automatic exclusion of companies where more than 5% of turnover originates from coal extraction. LINK / Danish

November 2020. P+ announces a change in the investment strategy, where oil and gas companies with more than 30% of revenue coming from oil and gas, and where the company is unwilling to enter a dialog about sustainable energy transition, will be divested by the end of 2021. LINK / Danish

August 2020. AGM at P+, where a majority of members (59%) voted for a rapid sale of coal mining companies as well as oil and gas companies that continue to lobby against the Paris-agreement, and whose business model is generally incompatible with the Paris-agreement. LINK / Danish