The 2024 Banking on Climate Chaos report showed that Danske Bank provided US$ 15.338 Billion in financing to the fossil fuel industry between 2016 and 2023. In 2023 only, Danske Bank provided US$ 149 Million for oil, gas and coal companies expanding fossil fuels. Find further details on Danske Bank fossil fuel portfolio and how it compares to other large banks globally on Fossil Banks No Thanks and in the Banking on Climate Chaos report.

Partner organisation Reclaim Finance tracks the coal, oil and gas policies of financial institutions, including banks, in their Coal Policy Tool (CPT) and the Oil and Gas Policy Tracker (OGPT). BankTrack works closely with Reclaim Finance and endorses their policy assessments. Find further details on their assessment of Danske Bank’s fossil fuel policy below.

BankTrack assessed Danske Bank in its 2024 Global Human Rights Benchmark, where it achieved 7 points out of 15 and was ranked as a “follower”.  

The bank scored 0.5 out of 3 points on the new “specific rights indicators”, which assess how banks address human rights defenders, Indigenous Peoples’ right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent and environmental rights in their policies and practices. 

In addition, Danske Bank scored 0.25 out of 3 on how it responds to alleged human rights violations linked to its finance, which were raised by civil society organisations. More information is detailed in the “Accountability” section of this profile.

The table below shows BankTrack's assessment of how Danske Bank has implemented the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Please click on 'expand all details' and 'explanation' for further information on the methodology.

Our policy assessments are always a work in progress. We very much welcome any feedback, especially from banks included in the assessments. Please get in touch at humanrights@banktrack.org.

BankTrack is keeping track of the public response of the Danske Bank to Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. Danske Bank has publicly condemned the war. Danske Bank is considered by Leave-Russia.org to be "continue operations" its operations in Russia. We consider its exposure to Russia as limited. Danske Bank supports the Russian fossil fuel industry through investments. For further details, see the table linked below.

As part of the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), Danske Bank is required to set interim targets for 2030 for high emission priority sectors. For Danske Bank, this includes its lending to the steel sector. You can see Danske Bank’s iron and steel decarbonisation targets, and its progress towards meeting them in our NZBA steel targets compliance tracker:

Reclaim Finance tracks the metallurgical coal policies of financial institutions, including banks, in their Coal Policy Tool. BankTrack works closely with Reclaim Finance and endorses their policy assessments. Find further details on their assessment of Danske Bank metallurgical coal policy below.