The five largest Dutch pension funds have called for the creation of a national investment institution to facilitate public-private partnerships (PPPs), in a letter sent to the Dutch government.

ABP, PMT, bpfBouw, PME, and PFZW have emphasised that by collaborating with the government they can “achieve long-term stable returns and make an important contribution to the necessary energy transition”.

“Increasingly, pension funds are engaging with various government departments on how our sector can contribute. We appreciate the government's active involvement to really get PPPs off the ground, but it is often still fragmented and has little central coordination and scale,” the letter said.

“Like the Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (RLI) advises, we are therefore in favour of a fully-fledged national investment institution that brings together supply and demand and can arrive at investable impactful projects. Such an investment institution can bridge the gap between government and pension funds. Invest- NL seems the appropriate party for this.”

The pension funds said they were reaching out to establish “a long-term partnership”. As well as the opportunity for PPPs, the pension funds called for joint lending, whereby the credit risk for pension funds is reduced, for example, through a guarantee structure.

The pension funds believe they can contribute to the energy transition through investments in heat and power grids. The letter also asked the government to create multi-year policies on the energy transition.

“Pension funds are asking the new government to take and keep a leading role in providing clear multi-year policies on energy transition and the themes: CO2 pricing, green tax measures, stimulating emission reduction, renewable energy and innovations.”

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