Yesterday
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Today, more than a hundred teachers and government employees have decided that they will start a joint lawsuit against their pension fund ABP. They want ABP, the largest pension fund in the Netherlands, to stop investing in fossil fuels. ABP has announced that it will review its own policy around 2022, but does not seem to have the intention to completely stop investing in oil, coal and gas companies such as Shell and BP. ABP invests approximately 15 billion euros in oil and gas companies.
In recent months, thousands of teachers and officials from the municipality and the national government have already revolted. Dozens of government organizations sent letters to ABP asking them to stop investing in fossil energy, after unrest among staff. This also applies to the municipalities of Amsterdam, Maastricht and Utrecht. ABP has also received letters from educational institutions such as TU Delft, the UvA and Utrecht University, in which the educational institutions speak out against the investment policy.
Online petition
Nearly 20,000 people, mainly ABP members, have now signed an online petition and campaigned. Like Amir, who works for the police. “I work on a safer Netherlands every day. But now my money is being invested in companies that cause disruption. We will soon have thousands of climate refugees, look at all the flooding this summer,” he says.
The teachers and officials met physically and online today in a meeting organized by the civil society Fossielvrij NL. Director Liset Meddens indicates that it will be a lawsuit in which hundreds of employees who are at ABP will act as plaintiffs. “We will be conducting this case together with many ABP participants,” she indicates. “This means that ABP can expect a summation with our requirements shortly.”
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Yield
Professor and economist Bert Scholtens of the University of Groningen has investigated what happens to the returns of pension funds if they no longer invest in fossil energy. According to him, they will not miss out on returns if they get out. “In the long run, they are likely to run more risk if they continue to invest in this. Because it is expected that the demand for oil and gas will eventually decrease.” Two smaller pension funds recently announced that they would stop investing in fossil energy.
Response ABP
Watch a video below in which teachers and officials call on ABP to stop investing in fossil fuels.
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