The Dutch Pension Fund for Healthcare and Welfare (PFZW) has revealed details of questions it posed to ING at the bank’s annual general meeting in April.

The pension fund posed questions on the bank’s climate policy, biodiversity and cooperation with other banks.

One of the questions posed centred on why it does not link executive pay to meeting its targets on climate goals, which are in line with the Paris climate agreement. In its response, ING said that climate targets do play a role in its remuneration policy. Despite this, PFZW believes that this link could be even clearer and, therefore, has asked ING to look into this.

ING is a member of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), a group of banks that aims to emit less CO2 through their loans to businesses. However, the NZBA recently toned down its targets.

As a result, PFZW asked if ING still stands by its own ambitious climate goals. The bank explained that its climate goals still remain and it uses the alliance to share knowledge, not set its course.

Finally, the pension fund asked ING about its policy on biodiversity. In response, the bank said it considers this an important issue. PFZW further challenged this as no measurable targets have yet been set by ING, to which the bank replied that no good measurement methods exist.

Despite this, PFZW therefore encouraged ING to take steps in this area, for example, by using provisional measuring points. The pension fund said, however, that it is positive that ING is working with other banks on new methods.

“We ask ING to continue this and to be open about its progress,” PFZW concluded.

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