For the first time, one of Denmark’s biggest investors in developing countries, the Danish Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU) has published the climate footprint of its portfolio of investments, in their annual report. A move in part made possible by UNEP DTU Partnership.
As acknowledged by CEO Torben Huss in the introductory note to the newly released Annual Report:
“…we have for the first time structured our reporting on climate change…..and we have with the support from UNEP DTU calculated the portfolio greenhouse gas footprint from our investments. We will continue developing these practices in the coming years.”
Read the annual report here.
UNEP DTU Partnerships assistance to IFU is part of the partnership’s research on transformational change, links between emissions reductions and sustainable development, and approaches to track alignment with the Paris Agreement’s temperature goal.
IFU is an independent fund, owned by the Danish government, which offers advisory services and risk capital to companies doing business in developing countries and emerging markets.
Currently, IFU and IFU managed funds have co-invested in nearly 1300 companies in 100 countries, and in 2020, IFU and IFU managed funds contracted investments of an all time high DKK 2bn.
Finance flows aligned with a green future
In November 2020, IFU joined the other European Development Finance Institutions in a commitment to align all new financing decisions with the objectives of the Paris Agreement by 2022 and to ensure that its portfolio will demonstrate net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest.
These commitments are in line with IFU’s Climate Policy, developed during 2019 with assistance from UNEP DTU Partnership.
IFU plans to repeat the calculation of the climate footprint every year in order to measure how the fund’s portfolio is performing on emissions over time and allowing tracking of the journey to net-zero emissions in 2050. IFU will also consider how to use the results of the footprinting exercise and the detailed underlying information for future investment decisions.
