We invest your pension responsibly. So, our investment choices are never just financially driven. Our goal is to ensure participants have a good pension in a world that’s worth living in. We always look at the ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) factors as well. It’s our belief that good company governance (G) improves performance on environmental (E) and social (S) factors.

What’s important to participants?
The pension fund regularly asks participants for their opinion on sustainable investment. The last participant survey was in 2023. It showed our participants value the themes ‘energy transition’, ‘climate’ and ‘gender equality’. The survey also revealed that participants prefer not to invest in companies involved in serious controversies and want sustainable investment to give good returns. Participants' preferences are taken into account in our responsible investment policy. This means that we always select responsible investment options that will deliver a good pensions for our participants.

Excluding investments
We believe that excluding investments should only be a 'last resort'. If we stop investing in a company, we lose the ability to influence and make positive changes. That is why we set strict requirements for the exclusion of investments. We choose not to invest in companies (or their bonds) that are involved in the production of cluster munitions, landmines, chemical and biological weapons. We do not invest in companies that are involved in serious controversies either.

Engaging in dialogue and using our right to vote
As a pension fund, we use our right to vote at shareholders’ meetings to bring about positive change and create long-term value. We also actively engage with the companies we invest in to motivate them to 'do better' for society. If we feel that companies are failing in their commitment to the environment and society, we encourage them to make improvements. That's good for your pension, and good for the world.

Making ESG part of investment policy
Besides using our right to vote, engaging in dialogue with companies and excluding investments, responsible investment is an important aspect of our investment portfolios. For example, we try to use our shares and corporate bonds to achieve carbon emissions below the benchmark. It is important to us that our portfolios outperform the benchmark in terms of Governance too. We also prefer green bonds over traditional bonds, as long as risk and return characteristics are comparable. Last but not least, we always consider how an investment will impact returns because a good pension isn’t possible without good returns.