Danish pensions veteran Peter Damgaard Jensen is to play a central role in a new climate scheme which aims to put words into action, fostering concrete ways for more private funding to be channelled into clean energy and climate investments.

The Climate Investment Coalition (CIC), created by the Danish pensions sector and government, was launched by Damgaard Jensen – the long-time chief executive officer of DKK300bn (€40bn) Danish pensions firm PKA – as well as the Danish Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities Dan Jørgensen, in conjunction with the COP25 conference in Madrid.

Damgaard Jensen said: “If we as a global community are to achieve the green transition, it will require huge investments in the climate, and much of the money will have to come from the private sector.”

The CIC said it aimed to showcase examples of both investment models and regulatory frameworks that aid the green transition through dialogue with institutional investors, governments and other potential clients to gather financial commitments from them.

It also said it would hold a climate investment summit in Copenhagen in May 2020, where green infrastructure investment models, policy frameworks and de-risking methods will be presented, among other things.

The coalition said its formation followed on from a pledge made by Denmark’s government and several of the country’s biggest pension funds to invest an additional DKK350bn (€46.8bn) between now and 2030 to support the green transition, announced at the UN climate summit in New York in September.

Industry association Insurance & Pension Denmark (IPD) said the CIC would work to gain new green investment commitments from pension funds by 2030, providing recommendations based on experience from pension companies for effective investments in sectors such as energy, infrastructure and new technologies.

Per Bremer Rasmussen, IPD CEO, said: “Although the Danish pension wealth is large, it cannot at all lift the entire investment need if we are to achieve the Paris agreement.”

PKA, which runs four mainly health and social care sector pension funds, said that as chair of the international Institutional Investor Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) – which includes more than 190 European investors – Damgaard Jensen would play a key role within the CIC.

“Both at the UN Climate Summit in New York in September and now here at COP25 in Madrid, we have received several positive announcements from very large investors in both the US and Europe. There is momentum around the climate agenda right now from both the political and private sectors,” said Damgaard Jensen, who is to step down as PKA’s CEO in the spring of 2020, after 19 years in the role.

 

 

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