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Danica draws a red line
Danica Pension, which manages more than 400 billion Danish kroner on behalf of 750,000 Danes, has decided to exclude Equinor from its investments.
According to Danica, the move is driven by Equinor’s failure to present a credible climate transition plan. The company also highlighted Equinor’s decision to push forward with ultra-deepwater oil extraction, a practice that contradicts Danica’s own sustainability criteria.
“Overall, the company does not meet our requirements for a realistic transition strategy,” Danica told Danwatch.
Equinor rejects Danica’s assessment, insisting its strategy is in line with a sustainable energy transition, saying their business model is in alignment with the Paris agreement.
Read more here about why Equinor's energy transition plan falls short
This is not the first time investors drop Equinor, for their lack of believable climate commitments. Earlier this year, the asset manager Sarasin & Partners sold its stock because Equinor's board failed to align its strategy with the global goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius.
Bacalhau: Equinor’s most ambitious and damaging overseas project
A part of Danica's decision to exclude Equinor is Bacalhau, a massive oil field off Brazil’s coast where Equinor is preparing to drill at depths of around 2,000 meters.
When announced in 2021, Bacalhau was hailed by Equinor as its largest international project. The company plans to pump up to 220,000 barrels of oil per day. The project locks Brazil into decades of new fossil fuel production at a time when the world needs to urgently cut emissions.
Bacalhau is both technically demanding and profoundly harmful. If fully exploited, the oil reserves would emit up to 800 million tons of CO₂, nearly double Brazil’s annual national emissions. This would lock the country into decades of fossil fuel dependency, undermining global climate goals and pushing the world closer to climate catastrophe.
Beyond the climate toll, Bacalhau poses a direct threat to Brazil’s fragile marine ecosystems and vulnerable coastal communities. Dozens of endangered species have been identified in the area, including 18 bird species, six species of whales and dolphins, four types of sea turtles, and 25 fish species.
Meanwhile, local fishing communities, among the poorest in Brazil, face existential risks to their livelihoods from possible oil spills and ecosystem disruption. Independent assessments warn that in a worst-case scenario, a spill from Bacalhau could blanket an area the size of Norway, devastating tourism, fisheries, and biodiversity for generations.
Read more about the Bacalhau oil field here