Swedish pension fund AP7 has completed its biannual revision of its company blacklist and has now excluded 14 new companies from its investment universe.

The businesses - which conduct large-scale coal operations or oil/tar sand extractions - are not acting in line with the Paris Agreement and have no “credible transition plans”, according to a new statement.

AP7’s blacklist is updated every December and June and the pension fund considers the action an active ownership measure that aims to encourage companies to transition to more sustainable practices.

The fund invests in companies that act in accordance with international conventions that Sweden has signed, with principles concerning human rights, working conditions, anti-corruption and the environment.

“A large proportion of the new blacklisted companies are coal companies without credible transition plans. We do not make sector-wide exclusions but blacklist companies with large scale operations in thermal coal and coal power that haven’t initiated their transition. Our blacklisting is the result of engagement and analysis where we have found that many companies are moving in a positive direction. In some cases, it is too early to determine the credibility in companies transition plans, but over time it will become increasingly clear”, says Charlotta Dawidowski Sydstrand, Head of ESG at AP7.

In addition, AP7 has also removed five companies from its blacklist. These are Cintas Corp, Entergy Corp, The Southern Company, TC Energy Corp (formerly TransCanada) and Toshiba Corp. They have now been removed from the blacklist as there is no verified information about ongoing norm violations at these firms.

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