Coping with the the speed of change - capability building to meet requirements stemming from the climate agenda. Evidence from Danish pension funds

This study analyses the capacity and actions of major Danish pension funds to meet increased expectations from stakeholders, regulators, and society broadly regarding the adequacy of their climate-related investments and reporting. Based on in-depth interviews with ESG-managers and content analysis of available reports, it is found that the rapid increase in investments and reporting was driven by several factors, including pressures from stakeholders, better and more data, ethics, and regulation. While relevant human resources were deemed to be currently sufficient, a shortage of expertise is expected in the near future. A uniform model for how to cope with the challenges of capacity and competencies on ESG-issues was not present in the Danish context. However, all sampled pension funds developed strategic considerations on whether to make their data, knowledge and services internally or buy them externally. They related these considerations to internal learning processes and organisational change aimed at embedding ESG-considerations into several parts of the organisation.