More than half, 57 per cent, of Dutch pension funds still has not set any
sustainability goals, it has been revealed.

Sustainable investing is therefore for many schemes still too informal, the Dutch Association of Investors for Sustainable Development (VBDO) says in its eleventh Benchmark Pension Funds report.

This year the best performing pension funds are Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW), het Algemeen Burgerlijk Pensioenfonds (ABP), BPL Pensioen, Bedrijfstakpensioenfonds voor de Bouwnijverheid (bpfBouw)and Pensioenfonds voor Woningcorporaties.

The VBDO says the trend towards a growing sustainable investment portfolio continues. Although 57 per cent of the funds still lack sustainability goals, pension schemes are increasingly often including environmental and social criteria in their investment analysis. They are also increasingly more transparent about this.

“The achievements of both the best performing funds as well as the lowest performing funds have unfortunately remained almost stable over the past year. That the overall achievements have increased is therefore mostly due to the middle-ranking schemes,” the VBDO said.

“This year saw a particular improvement in how trustee boards take sustainable investing into account and how transparent they are. Despite the higher score on transparency, large differences remain in the quality and depth of the reporting on sustainability.”

The association encourages the schemes to accelerate this trend towards a growing sustainable portfolio, mainly because the fight against climate change is becoming an increasingly urgent theme.

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