The percentage of ABP members who want to invest sustainably has continued to rise in recent years, according to a member survey.
In a similar poll conducted more than two years ago, two thirds of participants indicated they wanted ABP, the €520bn pension scheme for Dutch civil servants, to invest their pensions sustainably. This percentage has now grown to 78%, according to survey results published on Friday.
The clear signal from members to ABP to prioritise sustainable investing comes almost a year after the Dutch parliament called on pension funds to stop “activist investing” and focus exclusively on achieving the best financial returns for members.
Respondents are divided on the question whether sustainable investing yields a better return than non-sustainable investing: 26% think so, and 22% do not. The rest have no opinion or think it doesn’t matter.
Popular with pensioners
At the end of 2024, ABP reached out to 46,124 active members and 8,172 pensioners for its member survey. Although they made up less than 20% of the sample, the majority of respondents (53%) turned out to be retired. In addition to age and gender, ABP has therefore also applied a correction to ‘pension status’ (active versus retired) to ensure that the results accurately reflect the views of both active and retired members alike.
Fast food chains
The survey also shows that participants have grown more enthusiastic of divesting from sectors that are seen as unsustainable or unethical. In a poll last year, a majority of respondents opposed investments in gambling companies and the fossil fuel industry.
This time around, at least two thirds of participants are also against investing in companies that produce disposable plastics or pesticides. Fast food chains, palm oil producers and the meat processing industry must also be divested from, according to a large majority.
ABP says that it will use the results of the survey “when drawing up and refining our sustainable and responsible investment policy.” Last year, the results of the survey indeed seem to have had consequences: according to an overview on ABP’s website, the pension fund no longer invests in gambling companies where this was still the case a year ago.
On December 31 last year, the civil service fund was still invested in Indian pesticides producer UPL, fast food chains McDonald’s and Yum! (the parent company of KFC and Burger King) and Brazilian meat processing company JBS. ABP did not immediately answer the question how if will follow up on the results of this year’s survey.
ABP also asked its participants which themes the fund should focus on in order to make a positive impact on society. Investing in the energy transition came first, as it did in previous years. Last year, investing in residential real estate cam second with 56% of participants saying this was important to them. This year the figure dropped to 43%, falling to sixth place on the priority list. Participants now consider other, climate-related themes such as combating climate change and protecting against its effects (49%), and waste recycling (48%) as more important.
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