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Societal impact and sustainability in 2022
Societal impact and sustainability in 2022
Biodiversity and nature are vital to society, but woodlands and plants are currently disappearing faster than ever. At the same time, biodiversity is a key element when it comes to curbing climate change because global biodiversity is responsible for absorbing a large part of the world’s carbon emissions.
For this reason, we launched initiatives in 2022 aimed at protecting and restoring biodiversity, and this also underpins our focus on the green transition and on safeguarding our customers’ pension savings.
Companies depend on natural resources to run their businesses and, thereby delivering investment returns for our customers. This means that they must become better at protecting biodiversity, and we want to help them get started. Through targeted dialogue, we aim to support 30 global businesses in increasing their efforts to reduce their impact on the biodiversity of woodlands and marine areas, which are important biodiversity reserves.
In 2022, we increased investments in the green transition by 13% to DKK 37.7 billion.
In 2022, more customers chose to place their pension savings in Danica Balance Responsible Choice, which has an increased focus on sustainability. A number of businesses also made the solution an automatic part in their pension schemes for new employees.
We committed to an international climate standard, which will provide extra assurance that we adhere to the latest climate science and comply with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Our ambition is for our customers’ investments to have a positive impact on biodiversity, which in turn will benefit their pensions savings. Therefore, we signed up to the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge, committing us to setting clear biodiversity targets.
What is the status and outlook of the green transition of the energy and steel sectors? In 2022, we engaged in targeted dialogues with these sectors to help them further the process of carbon emission reductions.
In 2022, we supported climate proposals at the annual general meetings of a number of US banks. The aim of doing this is to make the banks reduce their financing of fossil fuels.
We are well on the way to reducing the carbon footprint from investments in the highest-emitting sectors. Today, we are ahead of our targets for the utilities and cement sectors, and we are making positive progress within the automotive and shipping sectors.
However, progress in the steel, energy and aviation sectors needs to pick up pace.
If a customer is affected by ill health, we offer preventative healthcare, medical treatment and financial assistance. As a pension provider, we at Danica Pension believe that we have a responsibility to help our customers improve their health – and this is closely linked to the customers’ level of job satisfaction and businesses’ ability to ensure that their employees are motivated and functioning well.
In 2022, we continued our focus on developing healthcare solutions to customers, so they experience receiving both earlier and a wider range of treatments.
In 2022, more customers than ever received treatment through our healthcare solutions. Increasingly, we are providing treatment at the earlier stages of an illness, which we see as a very positive development. In fact, we encourage our customers to seek treatment before problems occur. And customers have listened.
Our preventive health measures have resulted in less long-term absence due to illness over the past four years. In 2022, we therefore decided to invest a further DKK 100 million in preventive healthcare measures.
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Help when it really matters
When a terrible shooting incident occurred at the Field’s shopping centre in 2022, many of our customers were directly affected. Read more about how we helped them – for example, by setting up a dedicated emergency helpline.
In 2022, we were part of ArbejdslystAlliancen, a group of companies committed to improving job satisfaction in Denmark. Together with companies such as LEGO and Jobindex, we are working to create a better quality of life for individuals by promoting improved job satisfaction, and we are also working to connect with some of the many employees across Denmark who are experiencing symptoms of stress.
By providing proactive advice and clear and actionable recommendations, we help our customers to choose the right pension scheme for them. This was particularly important in 2022, a year characterised by war in Ukraine, rising inflation and financial market turmoil.
In 2022, we provided personal advice to approximately 82,500 customers and businesses by means of an online Pension Check or Pension Start.
Customers have become better equipped for retirement because more of them are saving in line with our recommendations.
Our customers choose to pay additional DKK one billion into their pension scheme in 2022.
The war in Ukraine and significant fluctuations in the financial market created a sense of insecurity among our customers. We offered good advice and recommendations on how to make the most of their finances in difficult times – whether you are saving for your retirement or have already retired.
What are the economists’ perspectives?
Who is willing to take most financial risk – men or women? And does owning your own home make you more willing to take risks than if you rent your home? Our economists analysed these questions in 2022. They also took a closer look at paternal leave and variations in how fathers take parental leave in different parts of Denmark.