Dutch pension fund ABP has set out its climate policy following a letter from Dutch environmental organisation, Milieudefensie.

ABP was one of 30 organisations contacted by Milieudefensie at the beginning of the year, asking it to make a plan to drastically reduce its CO2 emissions before 2030 to tackle the climate crisis. ABP explained that it was not selected based on how well, or poorly, it was doing but based on it being an important player that can make a change.

“We have informed Milieudefensie that we believe that our efforts are in line with what they have asked us to do in their letter. ABP has also invited Milieudefensie to discuss this further; ABP would like to make a measurable contribution to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. This is also the starting point for the action plan, to which we had already committed ourselves with the Climate Agreement,” ABP stated.

Climate change has been part of its sustainable and responsible investment policy since 2007. In 2015, it set concrete goals for 2020, such as investing more in sustainable energy and reducing the CO2 footprint. In those years it has achieved more than it had intended in 2015.

Its 2020 policy includes objectives for the short, medium and long term (2025, 2030 and 2050). This means that the portfolio will be brought in line with the Paris objectives and the agreements in the Dutch Climate Agreement.

“We are currently further tightening the policy, because we believe that the goals should lead to more and more measurable results. For example, we will set a new target for reducing the CO2 emissions of our investments. ABP also has a separate objective for investing in companies and projects that contribute to SDG-7 with their products and services: access to affordable and sustainable energy. At the end of 2020, €13.8bn had already been invested in this category,” it stated.

ABP said it will be able to update on its progress in its 2021 report, which will be published shortly.

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