Climate change

Obtaining a good return and investing in a socially responsible manner go together quite well indeed. We mainly focus on two topics: jobs and climate change.

Climate change matters to PME

Climate change has a great economic and societal impact, and, therefore, also affects our investments. At the same time, our investments also have an impact on climate change. That is why this is a big deal for us.

We try to limit climate change by choosing investments that reduce CO2 emissions. In addition, we invest in clean energies to help the energy transition.

How does that look in real life?

  • First of all, we choose to make investments in best-in-class shares when we invest in utility companies, precious metals, aviation and the steel industry. Companies that have the best approach to climate risks emit such shares. We talk to these companies in order to encourage them to use more renewable energies. We do not invest in fossile energies, so we do not invest in charcoal, oil and gas extraction and distribution.
  • We invest in companies that make a positive contribution to the energy transition, such as wind and solar parks, energy storage, grid companies, and monitoring and optimisation. These companies also ensure the creation of additional jobs in our own sector.
  • Finally, we join (inter)national initiatives that want to make a visible contribution to a positive change in the climate. Examples include the  Paris climate agreement (in Dutch) and the Dutch Climate Agreement (in Dutch).

Talking to companies

Talking to companies is often more impactful than withdrawing our investments. For as long as we are a shareholder, we have a say and we can encourage companies to make better business decisions.

We talk to energy-intensive companies that emit a great deal of CO2 and thus contribute to climate change. It is important to us that these companies play a role in the transition to a sustainable energy supply. That way, these companies and our shares in these companies will keep their value as we gradually switch to a more sustainable use of energy. If a company we invest in becomes involved in an incident, we immediately ask them for an explanation.

We measure and weigh the progress made by the companies we do business with. We also keep an eye on their willingness to listen to and act on our suggestions. If a company is not ready to listen to our arguments, we may decide to sell our shares in that company.