A report from the news service Ugebladet A4 has revealed that eight Danish pension firms have invested 140 million kroner in total into the US electric car firm Tesla.
The investment has raised eyebrows because it comes despite Tesla banning unions, paying poorly and sustaining high levels of work-related accidents, according to one expert.
“In my opinion, the pension firms ought to withdraw their investments out of a company that suppresses its employees and forbids unions,” Henning Jørgensen, a labour market researcher at Aalborg University, told Ugebladet A4.
READ MORE: Danish pension firms keeping hands on contentious tobacco shares
Keeping tabs on Tesla
PensionDanmark, whose clients include members of unions 3F and Dansk El-Forbund, holds shares in Tesla worth about 47 million kroner.
The seven other pension firms that have invested in Tesla are Danica Pension, PKA, SamPension, Lægernes Pension, JØP, DIP and PJD Pension.
“In August this year, a dialogue regarding working conditions at Tesla factories and at Tesla distributors has been established,” Jens-Christian Stougaard, the head of PensionDanmark, told Ugebladet A4.
“PensionDanmark will follow the dialogue closely and be an active and critical investor in Tesla, as long as we believe that the dialogue is shifting Tesla in the right direction.”
The question of ethical business concerning Danish pension firms has been a hot topic as of late. Last week, it was revealed that a number of big pension firms in Denmark continue to invest in tobacco shares.
