The Council on Ethics was founded in 2007 by the First, Second, Third and Fourth Swedish National Pension Funds (AP Funds) in order to together engage with global portfolio companies and encourage them to take responsibility for material environmental, social and governance issues. Collaboration through the Council on Ethics enable the AP Funds to manage sustainability risks in a more resource-efficient way and with greater leverage, which contributes in the overall mission of secure pensions.
The First, Second, Third and Fourth AP Funds are buffer funds in the Swedish public income pension system. Their mandate from the Riksdag (the Swedish Parliament) is to manage the fund assets in an exemplary manner through responsible investments and responsible ownership. The AP Funds should also promote sustainable development without compromising on the goal of good returns.
The role of the Council on Ethics is to encourage companies to make improvements in sustainability and to support the AP Funds in complex sustainability areas that are of great importance to people, the environment, and society, and create value in companies. The Council on Ethics works with companies that breach international conventions that Sweden supports. We also work proactively with prioritised sustainability issues. The Council on Ethics collaborates with other investors and stakeholders globally. We aim to drive change through engagement, by setting clear expectations and by collaborating.
The Council on Ethics attaches great importance to deepening our understanding of the issues at hand as well as of the companies’ circumstances, in order to formulate expectations, drive positive change and explore new solutions. We believe in engagement and dialogue as the most important tool for positive change.
Today, the Council on Ethics is well established internationally as the AP Funds’ collaboration for active ownership and engagement on sustainability issues. In this way, the Council on Ethics constitutes an essential part of the AP Funds’ sustainability strategy and mission as active and responsible owners.