ESG highlights
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ESG highlights of the year
In 2025, we remained focused on reinforcing our ESG credentials and capabilities. We continued to drive real-world decarbonization through our climate strategies and proprietary tools.
Playing our part in real world decarbonisation Investors increasingly recognize climate change as a global crisis threatening the environment, society and economy. The last few years we have seen important steps towards adopting climate policies with a positive impact on achieving net zero emissions targets by 2050. At Nordea Asset Management, we do not believe net zero can be achieved purely through avoid- ance and exclusion. Climate has been a strategic focus for us since becoming a signatory to the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in 2007. Our proprietary Forward Decarbonization Tool is now avail- able across our investment boutiques. The tool provides a forward-looking view of companies’ potential decarbonization trajectories, supporting portfolio managers in making informed allocation and engagement decisions aligned with strategy- specific climate objectives. Our commitment to climate action was further recognized in late 2024 with our Methane Engage- ment Campaign receiving the 'Recognition for Action – Climate' award at the PRI Awards ceremony in Toronto, Canada. Expanding our capabilities In 2025, we expanded our Sustainable Thematic offering and launched two Article 9 11 funds: Nordea 1 – European High Yield Sustainable Climate Bond Fund and Nordea 2 – Global Edge Sustainable Equity Fund. These funds support asset allocators in building sustainable fixed income and multi-asset portfolios and demonstrate NAM’s continued ESG innovation. In 2025, we strengthened our deforestation screening by integrating AI-driven analysis into our assessment process. After identifying companies exposed to deforestation-risk commodities through third-party ESG and open-source data,
we deployed a custom AI tool aligned with the Accountability Framework Initiative Core Principles to assess the robustness of company policies. This allowed us to move beyond binary assessments and evaluate key elements such as commitments to eliminate deforestation, cut-off dates, and alignment with frameworks including SBTi FLAG. The enhanced approach pro- vides more granular insights to inform stewardship priorities, while we continue to assess its consistency and scalability. Maintaining our ESG credentials With more than 35 years of experience in sustainable invest- ing, we continue to earn recognition. In 2025, we ranked 5th among global asset managers in the RIBI ESG Brand Report, demonstrating our commitment to responsible investing and sustainable development. Additionally, our Nordea 1 – Global Climate and Environment Fund won "Environmental Fund of the year" and our Nordea 1 – Global Diversity Engagement Fund won "Social Fund of the year" at the Sustainable Invest- ment Awards 2025. Our credentials extend to international ESG labels and in 2025 12 , selected funds secured the Label ISR and Towards Sustainability labels, recognising the strength of our ESG products. We maintained our UK Stewardship Code signa- tory status, meeting the highest disclosure and reporting standards in the UK. In 2025, our latest UK Stewardship Code report received the 2025 ICGN Global Stewardship Disclosure Award. On top of this, all our funds received ESG4Real certi- fication 13 , confirming compliance with baseline responsible investment requirements, including exclusions, norms, con- ventions, ESG criteria and engagement standards. Additional- ly, some funds obtained Nummus Ethics Certification, aligning with CEI's ethical guidelines.
11) According to European SFDR classification, see page 51. 12) More information on ESG labels can be found in page 20. 13) ESG4Real is an independent label certifying the credibility and transparency of ESG and impact investment approaches. More information: https://www.esg4real.org.
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