Denmark’s Sampension has backed a shareholder proposal calling on Equinor to disclose the financial and geopolitical risks linked to further fossil fuel expansion in the Barents Sea Arctic region at the company’s annual general meeting on 12 May.

The proposal, submitted by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), asked Equinor to explain how further investments in the Barents Sea are compatible with long-term shareholder value creation amid rising financial, geopolitical and environmental risks.

At the time of writing, the outcome of the vote had not yet been published, although Equinor’s board had recommended that shareholders vote against the proposal.

The shareholders argued that Equinor has expanded its activities in the Barents Sea in recent years despite poor exploration results, persistently high costs and declining interest in the region from international oil companies.

They also pointed to growing geopolitical risks linked to oil and gas operations close to Russian and international waters, including the threat of sabotage against critical energy infrastructure.

Against this background, the shareholders called on Equinor to assess the overall financial and geopolitical risks associated with further expansion in the Barents Sea and explain how related investments align with long-term value creation for shareholders.

Sampension head of ESG, Jacob Ehlerth Jørgensen, said: “There is no doubt that security of supply in Europe must be strengthened, a point which the wars in Ukraine and Iran have, of course, emphasised.

“Investors must naturally contribute here too, and we are happy to shoulder our share of the responsibility. But this requires that the investments make sense financially and geopolitically – and, of course, also in terms of climate and biodiversity.”

He added that Sampension viewed Equinor’s fossil fuel expansion in the Arctic “with scepticism”, arguing it was not clear that new oil extraction in the Barents Sea was, on balance, the best way to ensure European security of supply.

According to Jørgensen, this was why Sampension supported the shareholder proposal seeking greater transparency around the activities and the risks associated with them.

The proposal also called for Equinor to publish the requested assessment no later than alongside its third-quarter 2026 financial results.

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