Why should Swedish pension savers save the climate with their pensions?

For transparency and my own agenda, I strongly dislike our previous government, the Social Democrats with the support of the Green Party and the tacit acceptance of the Left Party. Politically, I am very far from the Swedish Social Democrats, their partner parties, communism and socialism.

Both myself and my husband made an active choice many years ago and moved our pension money from AP7.

The premium pension is part of the Swedish general pension and are included in the PPM system. Available state-controlled funds in the PPM system are AP1, AP2, AP3, AP4, AP6 and AP7. These 6 funds make up the largest part of many Swedes' public pensions. All Swedes who do not make an active choice and change fund managers automatically end up on AP7.

Earlier this year, it emerged that former social democratic governments have loosened the rules around pension money and now the 6 AP funds can invest in, among other things, start-up companies, mainly AP7.

Today, both AP3 and AP4 are questioned because they invested in the company TotalEnergies, which is currently building a new oil pipeline through Uganda and Tanzania. Kristina Ostman, head of climate at the Swedish Nature Conservation Association, quote "This is a terrible project. It leads to the forced displacement of the local population and the destruction of the ecosystems." unquote.

As much as people worry about the climate, I'm guessing that the number of people willing to risk their old age for the sake of the climate is few.

One could change the direction of one of the AP funds to focus solely on climate-promoting projects and completely ignore returns. Similarly, another AP fund can be converted to focus only on start-ups and zero focus on returns. To place your pension money in one of these funds, you would have to make an active choice.

I suspect that interest in a fund with a total lack of return would be close to zero.