Dutch pension fund Stichting Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW) has announced its support for the shareholder proposals of Follow This, a climate action group that uses shareholder voting to target businesses in the oil and gas sector.

As a result, PFZW has committed to investing in companies that take steps to reduce the amount of CO2 they produce and provide climate solutions that could benefit people that need a more sustainable life, such as the development of technological applications that are necessary to get rid of oil and gas.

This comes after PFZW’s previous announcement in February that it intends to only invest in companies in the fossil energy sector than will drastically reduce CO2 emissions, using their voice as shareholders of oil and gas companies to accelerate their contribution to the energy transition.

The pension fund added: “In this way, our vote at shareholders’ meetings contributes to making the world more sustainable.”

PFZW has said that Follow This’s appeal fits in well with their new policy as it urges the fossil energy sector to take rapid steps towards sustainability, saying: “We have now asked them whether they have C02 reduction plans, after which we make an agreement with them that they will comply with the Climate Agreement.

“We want to see a detailed transition plan next year for the group that remains.”

PFWZ is expected to stop investing in oil and gas companies that do not take the requisite steps this year, although an exact time frame has not been specified.

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