Danish pension fund AkademikerPension has closed the sale of its stake in Italian oil and gas major Eni.
With the sale, AkademikerPension has divested a total of DKr3.7bn ($520m) worth of fossil fuel stakes over five years.
The latest sale also marks the completion of the pension fund’s multiyear divestment programme, which aims to cut its exposure to stocks in oil and gas assets.
AkademikerPension chief investment officer Anders Schelde said: "After several years where we, together with other investors, have tried to get these companies to change their climate course, we have to realise that the top management in the oil and gas sector simply refuse to do so in [a] manner consistent with the goals of the Paris agreement.
“Through a subsidiary, ENI will expand exploration for oil in vulnerable Arctic areas, which just confirms to us that ENI is a company that belongs on our exclusion list and not in our portfolio.”
The fund divested stakes in oil and gas companies including BP, Chevron, Equinor, Exxon Mobil, Petrobras, PetroChina, Shell and TotalEnergies. It also divested stake in Repsol earlier this year.
AkademikerPension said its stake in Eni was worth DKr33m, prior to its decision to sell the interest.
In a press statement, AkademikerPension stated: “From an investment return perspective the divestment decision of AkademikerPension have been neutral to slightly positive since 2018.”
Earlier this year, Eni's Norwegian subsidiary, Vaar Energi, announced plans to fast-track exploration oil and gas work in the Arctic Barents Sea.
Over the period 2024–26, the drilling programme in the Barents Sea aims to identify additional petroleum resources near the Goliat and Johan Castberg fields.
