Colleagues from NAM receiving the PRI Award. From left: Kasper Elmgren, Head of Fixed Income & Equities, Elin Noring, Senior ESG Analyst, Renée Lea Tengberg, ESG Director and Cecilia Fryklöf, Head of Active Ownership.

Nordea Asset Management (NAM) has been recognized by the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) for its leadership in spearheading a collaborative engagement of approximately 20 investors focused on enhancing disclosures and reducing company methane emissions to near zero within the energy, utilities, and waste management sectors. NAM was awarded the coveted “Recognition for Action – Climate” award at the PRI Awards ceremony in Toronto, Canada, yesterday.

 The PRI Awards celebrate asset managers, asset owners, and service providers who excel in responsible investment strategies and stewardship practices. The independent judging panel commended: “This targeted initiative has elevated methane as a concern and is consistent with science. Good results to date. Great collaborative outreach. Just a smart, well-designed and executed program that has tackled an important climate issue smartly.”

“We are honored to receive the 2024 PRI Recognition for Action – Climate award. The success of the NAM methane engagement initiative underscores the importance of collaboration in addressing climate change. As the manager of Europe’s largest actively managed Article 9 fund, NAM has been leading the change in climate investment and portfolio decarbonization for many years. As a firm supporter of Net Zero Asset Managers we remain committed to driving meaningful progress towards near-zero methane emissions,” says Nils Bolmstrand, CEO, Nordea Asset Management.

NAM’s initiative began in July 2022, when it launched the first phase of its collaboration with select partners and clients to engage with companies in the oil and gas industry on methane emissions disclosure and mitigation. A key focus of this effort is to encourage investee companies to join the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP 2.0), the global ‘gold standard’ framework for methane measurement, reporting, and target-setting under the United Nations Environment Programme’s International Methane Emissions Observatory.

“We are proud to be recognised by the PRI for our corporate engagement on methane. As a powerful greenhouse gas contributing to 30% of global warming today*, methane reduction offers one of the best near-term opportunities to mitigate climate change and can often be done at no net cost. As investors, we play an important role in driving corporate action on methane reduction, as part of delivering returns with responsibility,” says Renée Tengberg, ESG Director and Lead on Methane Engagement at NAM. 

The engagement is ongoing and has grown from 15 companies in 2022 to 65 in 2024—14 have joined the OGMP 2.0. As an early signatory to the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, NAM is committed to pushing for improved methane data, greater transparency and significant reductions in methane emissions across sectors.

*iea.org
To find out more about PRI visit unpri.org

About Nordea Asset Management
Nordea Asset Management (NAM, AuM 264bn EUR*), is part of the Nordea Group, the largest financial services group in the Nordic region (AuM 400bn EUR*). NAM offers European and global investors exposure to a broad set of investment funds. We serve a wide range of clients and distributors which include banks, asset managers, independent financial advisors and insurance companies.

Nordea Asset Management has a presence in Bonn, Brussels, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Lisbon, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, New York, Oslo, Paris, Santiago de Chile, Singapore, Stockholm, Vienna and Zurich. Nordea’s local presence goes hand in hand with the objective of being accessible and offering the best service to clients.

Nordea’s success is based on a sustainable and unique multi-boutique approach that combines the expertise of specialised internal boutiques with exclusive external competences allowing us to deliver alpha in a stable way for the benefit of our clients. NAM solutions cover all asset classes from fixed income and equity to multi asset solutions, and manage local and European as well as US, global and emerging market products.

Having entered the ESG space over 30 years ago, Responsible Investment is deeply rooted in our Nordic DNA. As an ESG pioneer and market leader we established an award-winning RI Team in 2009—now one of the largest in Europe. We currently offer a broad suite of RI solutions to investors of all types across the globe.

* Source: Nordea Investment Funds S.A.,30.06.2024

Nordea Asset Management is the functional name of the asset management business conducted by the legal entities Nordea Investment Funds S.A., Nordea Investment Management AB, Nordea Funds Ltd and their branches and subsidiaries. This material is intended to provide the reader with information on Nordea Asset Management, general market activity or industry trends and is not intended to be relied upon as a forecast or research. This material, or any views or opinions expressed herein, does not amount to an investment