Pension fund ABP has decided to no longer invest in tobacco and nuclear weapons.

The biggest pension fund of the Netherlands aims to have sold these investments, worth around €3.3bn in total, within a year.

ABP has introduced a new assessment framework for investment products. Aside from the existing assessment criteria, four extra criteria have been added. If all four criteria are met, it could lead to exclusions.

The criteria are; if by definition the product is harmful for humans; ABP, with its influence as a stakeholder, cannot change this; it will not have any negative consequences if the product would no longer exist; and, there is a global effort in eliminating it.

Based on this new assessment framework, the pension fund decided that the producers of tobacco and nuclear weapons no longer fit within its sustainable and responsible investment policy.

Commenting, chair of the trustee commission investment policy Erik van Houwelingen said: “Investments in tobacco and nuclear weapons have been a dilemma for us for some time now.

"Societal changes, also internationally, were the reason for ABP to put the topic on the agenda again. Members, employers and other stakeholders indicate an increasing discomfort with investments in tobacco and nuclear weapons.Legal developments also played a role. All these developments, input and perspectives have been taken into account.”

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