Sweden’s largest equity fund, the seventh AP fund, invests SEK 100 million in Saudi Arabia’s state oil company.
The country’s lobbyists are singled out as those who put sticks in the wheel of the climate agreement in Dubai.
– That the Swedes’ pension money is invested in the world’s largest oil company, which shows no signs of wanting to change, and which, on the contrary, greatly expands extraction in violation of the Paris Agreement. It can hardly get more unsustainable than this, says Jakob König, leader of the banking review project Fair Finance Guide.
Over half of Swedes save for pensions in the seventh AP fund, which is Sweden’s largest equity fund, ten times larger than the leading bank funds.
TV4 Nyheterna has previously drawn attention to the fund’s investments in fossil fuel companies. Now the fund’s own list of securities shows that the fund has shares in Saudi Aramco, worth SEK 500 million.
– This is a company that we no longer see anyone else investing in. Several investors, both in Sweden and internationally, have sold their investments in protest against the company’s lack of climate change, says Jakob König.
Put sticks in the wheel for climate agreements
During the climate summit in Dubai, representatives from the state of Saudi Arabia lobbied hard for the world’s countries not to sign an agreement to phase out coal, oil and gas. Among other things, there are suspicions of harsh influence campaigns to get African countries to change their minds.
– We own shares in Saudi Aramco and how we assess that company is not governed by how the Saudi Arabian state behaves, says Johan Florén, head of environmental and social governance at the seventh AP Fund.
The Seventh AP Fund also emphasizes that the fund has shares in the company because it wants to be able to influence it to become more environmentally friendly. But in that case, such influence must take place through the owners, the Saudi state, according to the Fair Finance guide.
– This company is completely controlled by the Saudi state, which is the main brake on climate change. So then it is not credible to believe that you should be able to stay and influence, but then you have to move the money, says Jakob König.