Largest Dutch pension fund ABP stops investing in fossil fuel assets
ABP, which has around three million clients in the Netherlands, said it will divest from the fossil fuel producers in phases.
ABP, the largest pension fund in the Netherlands, said on Tuesday that it will stop investing in producers of fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal.
The company stated that the reason for this decision lies in recently published reports by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Since 2015, ABP has based its climate policy on the insights of the IPCC, whose latest report warned that stronger action is necessary to combat global warming.
Related Stories
"We want to contribute to minimizing global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius," ABP Chairman of the Board Corien Wortmann said in a press release.
"We part with our investments in fossil fuel producers because we see insufficient opportunity for us as a shareholder to push for the necessary, significant acceleration of the energy transition at these companies," she said.
"Where possible, we intend to increase our investments in renewable energy, already more than four billion euros, and our involvement in smart solutions for the energy transition," Wortmann added.
ABP, which has around three million clients in the Netherlands, said it will divest from the fossil fuel producers in phases.
The bulk of its investments are expected to be sold by the first quarter of 2023. This concerns more than 15 billion euros (17.4 billion U.S. dollars) in assets, equal to almost three percent of ABP's total assets. The fund does not expect the decision to have a negative impact on long-term returns.
