The Netherlands’ Pensioen Federatie has held discussions with government ministers about cooperation between the government and financial sector on the green transition, and pension funds investing in private equity.

Pensioen Federatie chairman, Ger Jaarsma, and other financial sector chairs held talks with Minister of Finance, Sigrid Kaag, and Minister for Climate and Energy Policy, Rob Jetten, on the climate dossier.

The federation warned that €35bn was not enough to finance all costs resulting from the transition in the Netherlands, with the ministers indicating that cooperation between the government and financial sector was “urgently needed” for the multiplier effect.

Despite previous reports that suggested otherwise, the ministers stated that they want to work together with the market parties on this issue, agreeing to look at the possibilities and needs with experts from the sector and ministries.

Attention was also paid to the climate commitment of the financial sector, with the chairs “convinced” that the ambition within the sector is high and institutions will show this in their action plans for this year.

Pensioen Federatie noted that the quality and availability of data remained an important issue.

The financial organisation chairs agreed to work on a ‘shining example’ for each sector, for which heat networks are being considered for the pension sector.

Jaarsma and the representatives of several larger pension funds later spoke with Minister for Poverty Policy, Participation and Pensions, Carola Schouten, about the issue of perceived high performance fees in private equity investments.

The representatives informed the minister why they deliberately invest in this investment category and how they do it, as well as what barriers they encounter.

Pensioen Federatie stated that there are limited options for tackling these issues, and the sector will inform the minister about the sector's agenda on how to better communicate private equity to their participants and society.

“The talks were extremely constructive and positive,” commented Jaarsma.

“I think that in both discussions we have clearly included the ministers in our values and ambitions, but also in the challenges we face.”

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