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Annual Report of the Board new construction and renovation projects. The aim is to obtain
environmental certification for as many properties as possible in order
Seafarers’ Pension Fund 2022 Annual Report to show their responsibility and sustainability.
18 In order to cut down emissions due to energy consumption, the
Fund has taken into use a system facilitating the continual monitoring
of the use of building technical systems and optimisation of consump-
tion. In addition to enhanced efficiency, the intention is to gradually
transfer to green electricity and remote heating. The objective is to
reduce emissions by 25% by the year 2025.
Forest and infrastructure investments
Forest investments represent an asset class that does not produce
emissions, but rather binds carbon dioxide. The essential components
include the change of the carbon storage in the tree stand, soil and
wood products. In order to achieve the carbon neutrality goals set by
the Seafarers’ Pension Fund, the forest investments play a significant
role as they are carbon sinks. The Fund owned, through various funds,
forest properties totalling approx. 34,200 hectares of forest land at the
end of 2022. Of these forest properties, approx. 94% are located in
Finland, approx. 5% in the Baltic countries and approx. 1% in Asia.
In 2022, the overall carbon impact of the Fund’s forest invest-
ments was approx. 125,300 tonnes, which is estimated to correspond
to the average annual carbon footprint of more than 12,000 people in
Finland. The Seafarers’ Pension Fund is one of Finland’s largest forest
owners.
In its investments, the Fund stresses the preservation of the diversity
and natural values of the forests. The largest forest investment of the
Fund is Forest Holding Finland ky (FHF), which owns a total of 25,005
hectares of forest land. In early 2022, FHF protected an area of approx.
225 hectares around Kivesvaara Fell in the Municipality of Paltamo
which, combined with other separately protected areas, now forms a
350-hectare entity. According to the ELY Centre for Kainuu, the area is
one of the largest of its kind in the Kainuu region and large for Finland
as a whole as well. The overall protected lands form one of the most
valuable areas in the grove area of the Kainuu hills. The total area of
the Fund’s protected lands, as covered by a ban on measures, is 1.077
hectares.
As far as infrastructure funds are concerned, the lack of portfolio-
level carbon reporting is a major issue. The Seafarers’ Pension Fund
encourages the funds to develop and improve their carbon sink
reporting.
Towards carbon neutrality in real investments
The Seafarers’ Pension Fund has set a target of reaching carbon
neutrality in real investments (real estate, forest and infrastructure)
by the year 2030. For this purpose, a stepwise action programme has
been created to achieve the target. We will influence our asset managers
in order to improve the coverage of the responsibility analysis in the
future.
Private asset funds
The Seafarers’ Pension Fund owns private asset funds (capital, loan,
forest, infrastructure and real estate funds) totalling approximately