A new brief, Nordic Finance Unmasked, examines the investments of the 20 largest Nordic pension funds and 10 largest Nordic banks in the top 50 expanding metallurgical coal companies and the 100 largest steel-producing companies as of July 2023.
Despite policies adopted by Nordic financial institutions to phase out thermal coal in line with the Paris Climate Agreement, similar actions are missing for metallurgical coal, used in steelmaking, to achieve climate goals. The policy analysis of this brief reveals that most Nordic investors lack a metallurgical coal policy.
Coal-based steelmaking is risking to blow the remaining carbon budget and the next half decade will be crucial for steel decarbonisation, with over 70% of current coal- based capacity reaching the end of their lifespan by 2030. Institutional investors need to ensure that misguided investment decisions do not lead to a carbon lock-in for decades to come and work actively with the whole iron and steel value chain to ensure that bottlenecks for decarbonisation are solved and financial flows directed towards near-zero emission technologies.
Contact:
Vera Kauppinen, Campaign Specialist (Steel procurement and financing)
+358 44 576 9999