Nordea Bank Abp subsidiary Nordea Asset Management excluded Brazilian meat company JBS SA from all funds due to the latter's alleged links with cattle farms involved in the Amazon deforestation, accusations of corruption and concerns over the health and safety of its workers amid the COVID-19 crisis, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Nordic asset manager, which has €223 billion under management, pulled about €40 million from the meat company after a separate decision in 2019 to not buy more into the latter, Eric Pedersen, Nordea Asset Management's head of responsible investments, told the Journal.

Pedersen said, with Nordea's environmental, social and government portfolios comprising about 30% of its managed investments, that the decision uplifted the level for Nordea's remaining funds so its wider client base can remain comfortable with their investments' level of sustainability risk.

Pedersen said Nordea made the decision "after a period of engagement with the company, where we did not feel that we were seeing the response that we were looking for," the Journal reported.

JBS told the Journal in an email that it was not given an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to be transparent of its relationships and its operational sustainability as it is committed to eliminate deforestation through its supply chain.

READ MORE: Sign up for our weekly ESG newsletter here, read our latest coverage of environmental, social and governance issues here and listen to our ESG podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify and Apple podcasts.