Stripping pension money out of fossil fuels

Hey there,

It’s such a pleasure to write this newsletter and learn about so many brilliant journalists around the world whose investigations spark real change. Often, I’m impressed and envious of their work in equal measure. The journalist I talked to this week epitomises that feeling. The change he has sparked is off the charts.

I spoke with Joachim Kattrup, an investigative journalist writing for Danwatch in Denmark. Like many of the newsrooms we focus on here, Danwatch is an award-winning, independent organisation. It’s dedicated to uncovering stories about human rights and the environment. Its journalists hold people and organisations to account by publishing the truth.

But the project that has me awed and envious is Joachim’s investigative series “From Pensions to Pipelines”. In those stories, he looked into investments made by Danish pension pots into fossil fuel projects and companies. This work has ultimately led to nearly 1bn Danish kroner (DKK) being divested from fossil fuel – for UK readers that is a whopping £118m.

Of course, there are many ways to change the world: through cultural shifts, political reform or by giving people a voice. But, as Joachim put it, “money controls the world and makes it work … the solution to climate change is about money.”

The divestment came after Denwatch showed Danish pensions were investing DKK 4.7bn in eight private equity funds that, in turn, owned or financed at least 426 active oil, gas and coal power plants. Danwatch estimated that these plants emitted the equivalent of more than 100 times Denmark’s annual CO2 emissions.

To expose this massive carbon footprint, Joachim had to piece together the data. He began by gathering publicly available investment data from Danish and Nordic pension funds, which showed their stock and bond holdings.

He also gained temporary access to a financial database called C-bonds, which allowed him to identify bond issuers in the drilling sector. By cross-referencing the pension funds’ investment lists with the C-bonds data, he could see which pension fund was backing which drilling company.

Then came another layer: using a shipping database (since oil rigs are often tracked like ships). Joachim identified which rigs each company owned and where they were operating.

It’s a complicated money trail to follow!

I asked Joachim whether the pension funds were misleading people by not publishing accurate information about what they were investing in. He told me: “I have no evidence of them sitting in a dark room and plotting, but there’s a difference between what you tell the public and what you do in real life. It’s not necessarily cheating, but we need awareness, that’s why we need journalists.” After musing for a moment, he added: “It’s actually worse if they [the pension funds] didn’t know.”

To see what the pension funds did and didn’t know, you can read the full investigation here.

It’s quite amazing: a journalist in a small newsroom, on a relatively small budget, managing to trigger a £118m flood of cash away from fossil fuels. “It’s hard to get your head around the impact of the story,” Joachim told me. “It’s remarkable.”

That flood didn’t go unnoticed – Danwatch went on to win the 2024 Nordic Prize for Best Climate Journalism. It was a very well-deserved honour for a story that proves how journalism that follows the money can reshape the world.

“Our high street banks have been telling us how green they are for years. But some of the biggest names are fuelling the climate crisis by funding coal, oil and gas. 

I’ve spent a few years looking at all the banks but particularly the UK’s biggest, HSBC. My first story for the Bureau revealed that HSBC had been quietly lobbying to water down action on climate change in the banking sector. That came out when the UK hosted the Cop climate talks in Glasgow and all the banks, including HSBC, were jostling to publicise their net zero pledges. 

I then looked at HSBC’s promise to contribute $1 trillion in sustainable financing by 2030. It turned out many of the deals it counted towards that target were raising money for companies fuelling the climate crisis, including one that was building an environmentally ruinous oil pipeline in East Africa, and another that makes floating oil rigs. 

But the biggest thing banks can do to address their climate impact is to stop lending to companies that are looking for new coal, oil and gas reserves. And many of them have made pledges to that effect under pressure from customers and investors. I’ve revealed a number of occasions when HSBC, Barclays and others are not living up to those promises.  

HSBC, for example, made a pledge back in 2021 to stop funding companies that were increasing coal production. We found that in May 2023 the bank helped raise $1bn for the Australian mining company Glencore, which had been ramping up coal production for the previous two years. 

That story prompted one of the bank’s investors to challenge HSBC chairman Mark Tucker at its annual meeting this year. It’s great when people can use our reporting and I was pleased it happened at the AGM, which gathers together all of HSBC’s most committed investors.

And it’s not only investors that can take action. Following our reporting, ActionAid, the development charity, and the green energy business Ecotricity have both stopped banking with HSBC.“

This year’s Cop, the United Nations summit on climate change, is starting next Monday. This is where global targets are decided, international agreements made and progress reviewed. Donald Trump has pulled the United States out of these discussions, which is a huge blow to the fight to address climate change. But even without the big dog at the table, small tenacious newsrooms are still making a big difference. 

TBIJ is one of those small newsrooms. My colleagues and I don’t have corporate backers and we aren’t influenced by government funding. We exist to keep you informed and ensure that those who hold power can always be held accountable. If you believe in our mission to provide trustworthy news, then please become a member today:

Have a lovely week,