Joining forces

We are committed


We have endorsed a number of important international treaties that help guide us and live up to our overarching commitments 

 

Commitments that support our work

Collaborative initiatives and voluntary commitments are crucial to solving sustainability issues, as the financial sector must come together to drive change on a global and local scale. Nordea aims to work together with all societal actors, including legislators, governments, companies, NGOs and other financial institutions. The rapidly developing area of sustainability comes with challenges related to evaluation, comparability and credibility. We need to keep working towards harmonisation in order to effectively drive change.

As one of the leading banks in the Nordics, Nordea is committed to doing its part. We were one of the first Nordic banks to sign the Principals for Responsible Investments (PRI) in January 2007. Since then, we have continued to drive the sustainability agenda in the Nordics, and in an international context. 

Nordea is a proud co-founder of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB), the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance and the Net-Zero Asset Managers Initiative. Nordea is also the Nordic representative in the UNEP FI Banking Board and our CEO is a member of the high-level forum UNEP FI Leadership Council.

Our commitments

Nordea has signed and participates in a number of voluntary commitments. We do this as we recognize the importance of participating in and supporting international commitments that enable businesses to operate more sustainably. In addition to the commitments below, in its operations and business, Nordea follows the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ILO conventions and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. 

UN Global Compact 

 

UNGC was initiated by the UN to encourage businesses to align their strategies and operations with ten universal principles building on UN conventions in the fields of human rights, labour standards, environment and anti-corruption. Nordea became a signatory to the UN Global Compact in 2002, first through Nordea Bank Finland. From December 2004 the coverage was extended to the whole Group. 

Principles for Responsible banking 

 

The Principles for Responsible Banking have been designed by a core group of 30 founding banks, of which Nordea is one, together with the UN Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative. The principles create a better and easier way for banks and financial institutions to align with society’s goals. This, in turn, helps the industry to demonstrate how it can be a change-maker to count on in society. 

UN Principles for Responsible Investments 

 

As one of the first major banks in the Nordic countries, Nordea Asset Management signed PRI in 2007. The PRI is the world's leading proponent of responsible investment. It works to understand the investment implications of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and to support its international network of investor signatories in incorporating these factors into their investment and ownership decisions.

The Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF)

 

Nordea joined PCAF in 2020, a global partnership of financial institutions launched in 2015 to develop a harmonised approach to measure and disclose GHG emissions associated with loans and investments. A harmonised accounting approach provides financial institutions with guidance in developing risk management and regulatory compliance as well as a starting point required to align their portfolio with the Paris Agreement.

Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance
 

Nordea Life & Pensions has joined the UN-convened initiative Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, committing to transitioning the investment portfolio to net-zero emissions by 2050. The alliance till develop models and frameworks to use as industry standards for measuring alignment with the target of keeping global warming under maximum 1.5°C increase.

Net-Zero Banking Alliance 
 

To accelerate the transition of the global economy towards net-zero emissions by 2050, Nordea became a member of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) in 2021. The United Nations convened alliance represents over a quarter of all bank assets around the whole world (USD 46 trillion).