By Staff
Denmark’s largest pension fund, PFA Pension, is adjusting its responsible investment policy to allow allocations to European and American defense stocks.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created a growing need to invest in the defense industry for the benefit of our collective security,” said Rasmus Bessing, the $125B PFA’s director of responsible investments, in a statement.
The policy change will also enable PFA to invest in roughly 10 new aerospace companies, including the Boeing Co., Airbus, Thales S.A., and BAE Systems — companies that were previously excluded from the pension fund’s portfolio because they did not meet PFA’s policy for responsible investments.
“We have previously had a policy of not investing in companies that produce components for nuclear weapons,” said Bessing. “This has prevented us from investing in a number of well-known companies in the defense and aerospace industries, such as Airbus, Boeing, and Dassault Aviation, where only a very small part of the revenue comes from components for nuclear weapons.”
Despite the policy adjustment, he noted PFA will continue to refrain from investing in many arms stocks including in companies involved in the manufacture of controversial weapons such as cluster munitions, biological or chemical weapons, or companies that violate global norms or PFA’s guidelines for responsible investments.
Bessing also acknowledged that not all customers support divestment from defense stocks, adding that the pension fund will offer different options from which clients can choose that align with their own internal investment policies.
“Just as there are customers who think it is irresponsible to invest in weapons, there are others who think it is irresponsible not to do so. We want to take this into account, and therefore we are giving our customers the option to exclude weapons as well as to invest more specifically in defense stocks. If one does not want weapons, they can choose our Klima Plus product, while customers who want to invest extra in defense can do so via two new defense funds available on our Du Investerer platform.”
