As part of its new investment strategy, Dutch civil service scheme ABP will invest an additional €20bn in non-listed impact investments focused on biodiversity solutions, innovation and affordable housing.
The announcement follows an earlier pledge to invest €10bn in the energy transition, bringing the total amount to be invested to €30bn.
The €502bn pension fund, the country’s biggest, said it has identified climate and biodiversity “as the key themes influencing societal and economic changes, presenting risks and opportunities in the investment portfolio.”
The fund made a new pledge to invest at least €1bn in “biodiversity solutions”.
ABP, which could not immediately tell IPE how much money it has currently allocated to impact investments, will invest at least a third of the €30bn in new impact investments in the Netherland, it said in a statement. It added that €5bn of this will go to new affordable housing projects.
The Netherlands is facing a housing crisis with most young people unable to afford homes in the bigger cities. A recent ABP member survey showed strong support for investments in housing, with 56% saying affordable housing should be a “priority investment” of the pension fund.
Deforestation
ABP, which is in the process of changing its investment strategy to become an index-based investor, also announced it will no longer invest in companies “where climate or biodiversity damage is inherently linked to their business activities, with no realistic prospect of improvement.”
These include companies that produce single use plastics or non-organic pesticides. Back in 2021, the pension fund already divested from all oil and gas companies.
Companies that are active in the meat, cacao, coffee, palm oil, animal feed or paper and wood industries and as such risk contributing to deforestation are required to make convincing plans to stop biodiversity and nature loss and stop deforestation, or risk divestment.
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