Episode summary
Denmark's PKA Pension on investing in climate and real assets
Summary
Jon Johnsen says PKA did not need a major overhaul when he arrived because it was already a well-run pension fund; his main job was to reaffirm the existing strategy and make the firm’s risk and return framework more explicit. He presents PKA as a long-term investor that favors continuity over dramatic shifts, with a portfolio designed to serve members for decades rather than react to short-term market noise.
A major theme is PKA’s role as an early climate investor in Denmark and its effort to scale that experience internationally. Johnsen says the firm still sees the most attractive opportunities in solar, wind, grid infrastructure and battery storage, while green hydrogen proved harder than expected. He also expects real assets tied to defense, housing and public-sector needs to grow as Europe raises spending and governments carry more debt.
On private equity, he says PKA is Denmark’s largest private equity investor, with close to $10 billion invested, and expects more opportunity in Europe’s small and mid-sized companies. He is cautious on defense, limiting exposure to non-controversial areas under the UN definition and favoring fund managers with strong long-term partnerships, transparency and trust. He also says AI will matter most as a productivity tool inside PKA before it becomes part of core investment decisions.
Key takeaways
- Johnsen says PKA is keeping its strategy largely intact, because the pension fund was already well run and changes from 2025 to 2026 are only minor.
- PKA expects the strongest climate-investing opportunities to remain in solar, wind, grid upgrades and battery storage, not green hydrogen.
- The firm plans to deploy about half a billion US dollars into non-controversial defense investments over 2026 and 2027, mainly through funds focused on venture and mid-sized opportunities in the Nordics and Europe.
- Johnsen says PKA hedges 70% to 80% of its US dollar exposure and is tilting somewhat more toward Europe in response to geopolitics and tariffs.
- He argues that diversification, long-term partnerships and manager trust are the best defenses against rising geopolitical and financing risk.
Notable quotes
“So, in many ways, when I joined PKA, uh I took over a very well-run company”
“we were the investors in the first offshore wind uh uh offshore wind farm which was actually in Denmark”
“So we have close to 10 billion US uh dollars invested in private equity”
How the episode opens
Since joining PKA, what are the portfolio and team changes that you've implemented?
So, in many ways, when I joined PKA, uh I took over a very well-run company. So, I didn't need to change a lot of things. I think uh my main objective was to together with the board to reaffirm that uh the strategy that we were having right now is the strategy we're going to continue and also you know take some of the more intuitive things that has been part of PKA and structurize it so everybody understood you know the risk involves the as the returns involved uh and also the operational side of PKA so luckily enough I took over a very well-run company uh and pension fund that uh can continue uh being wellrun hopefully.
Absolutely. It's going so great so far. So uh I don't think there's going to be anything to worry about in the near future as well.
And you are actually a leader in climate investing. Um something I want to know is when you came onto PK was that such a big thing even then and if not how did the conversation with the board look like? I think uh PK was a very early adopter of the green transformation and we were the investors in the first offshore wind uh uh offshore wind farm which was actually in Denmark.
Uh and you know Denmark has historically have a very strong position in the green transformation.
Uh but my role was to take that uh internationally and also broaden you know sort of our presence in the in the international community about the green transformation. So I became member of Glasgow Financial Alliance with Zero, the GFANS UN run uh supporting organization and also I became a vice chair of IIDC which is sort of the European green transformation organization so to speak.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- climate investing
- real assets
- pension fund strategy
- offshore wind
- private equity
Companies and tickers mentioned
- PKA
Watch the episode
Watch “Denmark's PKA Pension on investing in climate and real assets” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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