The Danish pensions industry has strengthened its dialogue with young people by holding a meeting in response to a letter from youth organisations calling for clarity on climate change and investment strategies.

The letter was sent by Ansvarlig Fremtid, a Danish campaign group that advocates for divestment from fossil fuels, and many youth parties and organisations to the country's 16 pension companies back in November 2025.

The letter saw Ansvarlig Fremtid call on pension companies to use their political influence, be clearer in their communication about returns, be more open about how the climate crisis affects long-term returns and listen to the voices of young people.

Sixteen companies initially responded to the letter and explained their approach, and the purpose of the meeting, conducted on 21 January 2026, was to open a dialogue between the youth organisations and pension companies.

The meeting was led by Insurance & Pension Denmark (I&P Denmark) and Ansvarlig Fremtid, and invited pension companies and youth organisations for a dialogue.

“Young people have a natural expectation that we explain how we work with climate risks and long-term returns. We owe them transparency and real dialogue – and we want to strengthen this further," I&P Denmark deputy director, Tom Vile Jensen, said.

“Climate change is not a niche consideration – it is a financial reality. We can only deliver solid pensions in the long run by taking climate risks seriously, and we want to get even better at getting that focus from the industry off the ramp.”

From this meeting, the participating pension companies, including 15 companies that are members of I&P Denmark, identified several key issues that they want to address.

The first takeaway was utilising transparency and openness about the opportunities, risks and responsibilities associated with both the industry's and the individual's investments to engage people and to increase engagement with young people.

I&P Denmark emphasised the importance of explaining how returns and climate risks are linked in the long term, as it is a key part of companies' risk assessments, which the industry aims to do more to highlight, so that young people and other pension savers understand how climate risks are taken into account in the pension companies' investments.

The final takeaway was that stable political framework conditions and incentives are crucial for promoting green investments.

I&P Denmark acknowledged that the international political framework conditions and incentives for investing in the green transition are currently under pressure, and the industry therefore welcomes the fact that younger generations in particular are vigilant in their political support for the green transition.

Jensen said I&P Denmark shares young people's desire for more green progress, but that this “requires a clear and stable political framework in order for us to increase investments in, for example, wind, solar and new technologies”.

However, at the moment, he underlined the “significant economic headwinds on that agenda”, especially in the US, which affects the entire economic cycle around the energy transition.

In addition to this, it explained that it has primary responsibility on behalf of the industry for promoting the interests of green investments and will therefore continue its many activities to improve the framework for wind, solar and new green energy technologies, with a particular focus on Denmark and interaction with its nearest neighbours.

The pension industry acknowledged the “critical and constructive” approach taken by youth organisations, which helps strengthen the industry's ability to deliver solutions that meet the demands of different generations, as called for by several youth organisations.

I&P Denmark said it looks forward to continuing an open, critical and constructive dialogue on the industry's investments, responsibilities and development.

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