Mikus defends Kenfo investment strategy against criticism from climate activists
Following harsh criticism from the climate protection initiative Urgewald about the fund for financing nuclear waste disposal (Kenfo), the fund's CEO, Anja Mikus, has defended the investment strategy. Urgewald had accused Germany's largest sovereign wealth fund of being heavily involved in climate-damaging investments.
Mikus rejected this at an event organized by Börsen-Zeitung in Frankfurt. According to her, concentrating only on reducing investments in the oil and gas sector is too narrow a focus. Their share is 3%, Mikus said, thus correcting Urgewald's statements.
In any case, she believes it is crucial what kind of ESG strategy an investor pursues. „We are not a sustainability or impact fund, but a fund with sustainability criteria,“ says the investment manager of the nuclear legacy fund.
No more dirty investments
The ESG strategy of Kenfo, which will also be responsible for the 12 billion euros of generation capital, focuses on reducing emissions and climate change. This focus fits in with the idea of a fund that has to do with the energy transition, Mikus emphasized.
According to Mikus, the CO2 emissions associated with the portfolio have now fallen by 30%. On the one hand, the companies that have reduced their emissions are responsible for this. On the other hand, CO2-intensive investments have been eliminated due to the exclusion of companies that generate electricity from coal. „This is not a great achievement on our part,“ says Mikus, but is a result of the portfolio construction.
At 24 billion euros, Mikus believes that Kenfo is a rather small vehicle among institutional investors. This also means that the critical interaction with the companies, that is, the engagement, is not carried out by the company itself due to its lack of size, but together with the asset managers. In the context of engagement, investors influence companies in order to drive forward the process of transformation to sustainable business models.
Corporate clients under pressure
As part of the discussion on transformation, Alexandra Themistocli, Head of Sustainability at SEB Germany, advocates not forgetting the customer perspective: „You can't force green financing on every customer.“
At the same time, Themistocli has noticed that the trend towards sustainability in the banking industry is putting a number of customers under pressure. Her bank has lost five major customers because they did not submit a transition plan. At SEB, every customer is sent through an ESG screening once a year, says Themistocli. Customers who fall through the cracks then migrate to other institutions, debt funds or even Chinese banks.
Not all regulatory projects are equally successful
The importance of ESG regulation also plays a major role in the transition. According to the participants in the discussion, some projects have been successful, others less so. The sustainability reporting of companies in accordance with the CSRD directive is definitely helpful, says Bettina Storck, Head of Group Sustainability at Commerzbank.
Storck, on the other hand, is ambivalent about the taxonomy. In particular, the introduction of the Green Asset Ratio (GAR) for banks has gone wrong. This key figure is not meaningful and not comparable. Erich Süß, ESG expert and Partner at BCG, agrees: „The only thing you can say about the GAR is: it misses the point. You can't work with it.“
Criticism of transition taxonomy
The Head of ESG at Commerzbank is also sceptical with regard to the discussion about an additional taxonomy for the transition area. It is difficult to underpin transition plans with standard patterns. This would mean a considerable amount of work. In Süß's view, increasing regulation in the area of sustainability is leading to a certain ESG fatigue: „Many no longer accept ESG as they used to.“
