Large Dutch pension funds continued to divest from stocks linked to human rights abuses by the state of Israel this month.
After IPE reported last month that several pension funds had divested from bulldozer manufacturer Caterpillar, the divestment purge widened this month to also include other companies. In addition to Caterpillar, civil service scheme ABP also sold all its shares in Booking.com, Heidelberg Cement and Altice.
Pension schemes PFZW and PME divested from travel companies Booking.com, Airbnb and Expedia, which offer accommodation in illegal settlements on the occupied West Bank. PME also divested from a range of other firms that are deemed to likely contribute to the violation of human rights in the West Bank.
“We engaged with these companies, and concluded that they are likely still contributing to human rights violations in the West Bank. We have therefore decided to divest,” a PME spokesperson told IPE.
Israel is not the only country that’s top of mind for Dutch pension fund executives.
Dutch pension funds have started to reconsider their often oversized exposures to the US, as well as their relationships with US asset managers.
Pensioenfonds Bisdommen, the pension fund for Catholic clergy, has capped its exposure to US equity at 50%.
Although other pension funds have so far shied away from similar radical measures, concerns about investing in the US are rising.
In a recent survey by IPE’s sister publication Pensioen Pro, around 40% of pension fund respondents (partly) agreed to the statement: “Investing in the US is increasingly at odds with our ESG policy.”
Items to note:
- On 29 October, the European Association for Paritarian Institutions (AEIP) is organising its annual conference in Rotterdam.
- IPE’s sister publication Impact Investor will hold its annual conference – Future-proofing impact: investing in a shifting world – on 11 November at The Hague Conference Centre New Babylon, The Netherlands
Tjibbe Hoekstra
IPE Netherlands Correspondent
This news briefing was published earlier in the week. If you would like to receive it regularly, on your IPE profile, go to My Newsletters and select any from the list.
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