FI classification criteria

Criteria
1

Dear all,

Question regarding asset management/owner definition for energy companies.

We have a specific case with a client. This company defines itself as a company where: Our operational framework relies on three income-generating sectors and a cost-effective corporate division. The Development sector serves as a green-field developer for projects both onshore and offshore. With a robust history, Development specializes in the organic, in-house creation of wind and hydropower assets. Meanwhile, the Production sector actively manages renewable power assets.

In the national company register centre, they are classified as a “producer of electricity” and are publicly listed. The company’s NACE-code is 35.119.

According to our back-of-the-envelope calculations, more than 60% of their revenues stem from being an asset manager/owner. This would indicate that they fall under the Financial Institution sector classification. However, they are well-below the threshold for SMEs only employing 62 FTEs in the 2022 reporting year. From our understanding a company defined as FI would override the SME-route. This company however does not classify itself as a financial institution, is there any more guidance available for defining asset management/owner? Or do you have any similar cases from the power sector that could give some insight?

Thank you in advance for any feedback and insight into this case.

Best regards
Asgaut Holm

2

Hi Asgaut, asset manager/owner in the FI sense usually refers to the management/ownership of debt and/or equity securities, rather than physical assets. This client may then be considered a real-economy company, rather than an FI. To note, the definition of SMEs that can go through the streamlined target validation route has recently been updated. For any additional questions on non-financial sector companies that aren’t covered by the Power Sector webpage, you can reach out to info@sciencebasedtargets.org.