Pension companies are misleading customers and overstating their green investments according to a new report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The organisation analysed the amount that Denmark’s eight largest pension companies invested in both renewable and non-renewable energy sources and found that few lived up to their stated green ambitions.

Of the eight companies, PKA performed best but was only granted a mark of five out of ten, with ten being the 'greenest', while the majority of pension companies were given only two out of ten.

WWF's general secretary, Gitte Seeberg, argued that pensions such as the 125 billion kroner Nordea Liv og Pension were particularly misleading about their ambitions to protect the environment and support sustainability.

“Nordea Liv og Pension is investing in fossil fuel energy which is contributing to global warming and placing future generations in danger,” Seeberg told Information newspaper. “And according to its director of investments, the company has no direct investment in green energy technology or funds that solely invest in green energy.”

“If Nordea Liv og Pension really mean that it wants to invest in sustainable development and care for the environment, it would immediately end investments in fossil fuel energy and invest in green energy instead. It is completely irresponsible to invest in fossil fuels.”

According to Information, Denmark’s largest pension, ATP, has given up on its 2009 ambition to ensure that ten percent of its investments were in green energy, but ATP's deputy director, Ulrik Weurder, denies that the company is acting irresponsibly.

“We cannot use our pensioners’ money to subsidise the climate,” he told Information. “That is far from our mandate. But that is the underlying message of the report, that pension companies ought to subsidise the climate.”