SEB Investment Management, the fund company of Nordic financial services group SEB, announced today a new sustainability policy applied to the company’s investments, along with a new climate strategy. The new policy gives increased weight to sustainability criteria in security selection and management, including the adoption of a fossil fuel exclusion across all of the investment manager’s funds. As part of the new climate strategy, SEB aims to reach carbon neutrality in its investments by 2040.

Javiera Ragnartz, Head of SEB Investment Management, said:

”We now take another leap forward when it comes to future-proofing our funds based on our view of sustainable development and future return possibilities. Our ambition is to invest in companies with long-term sustainable business models, while all funds will at the same time exclude fossil fuels.”

According to SEB, the new policy is part of the company’s efforts to address climate change threats, support the goals of the Paris Agreement, and contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

SEB will implement a new model used to analyze all of the companies in its investment portfolio, which will include a focus on material sustainability risks, as well as opportunities, including investments in companies that contribute to solutions or enable transition. The company will also extend exclusions that it had previously applied only to sustainable and ethical funds across all portfolios, such as fossil fuels, tobacco and commercial gaming operations. On the fossil fuel front, exclusions will encompass extraction and production, as well as power generation and distribution.

Ragnartz added:

”When we now raise our ambitions and they will become the same for all funds, there is no longer a need to distinguish between sustainable funds and other funds.”