Dutch pension fund ABP insists banks do more to tackle climate change

ABP, the pension fund for Dutch civil servants, says banks that claim to have more green initiatives in their investment portfolios must also show their commitment. This fund is the largest in the European Union and one of the largest in the world.

“The financial sector is really lagging behind,” said Dominic Dyquis, the fund’s investment director. If it does, it doesn’t match,” she told Bloomberg.

ABP now wants to set transparent targets for financial institutions such as banks and insurance companies. If these targets are not met, ABP will sell his holdings after three years. Banks “must be held accountable,” Dykehuis said. That means banks need to look “very critically” at fossil fuel investments and “probably get out.”

In 2021, ABP has decided to sell its €15 billion worth of investments in fossil fuel companies and projects. That operation should be completed by the end of this quarter. Pension funds now want to remove their indirect exposure to such investments. “We are concerned that the financial sector is still investing heavily in fossil fuels,” said Dikhuis.

Public employee pension funds are not the only ones complaining about the extent to which the financial sector is meeting its climate targets. For example, Member of the European Parliament Paul Tan wants regulation stipulating the level of exposure of banks to the fossil sector as a way to mitigate climate risk.

Banks that invest in many fossil fuel companies and projects will need to maintain larger financial buffers, he said. Other regulators have raised similar concerns for some time.

https://nltimes.nl/2023/01/24/dutch-pension-fund-abp-insisting-banks-tackle-climate-change Dutch pension fund ABP insists banks do more to tackle climate change

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