Thousands of Dutch say ditch fossil fuels from pension fund

money criminal cash omMembers of the massive Dutch civil service pension fund ABP are calling on the company to divest from oil, coal and gas.

A petition signed by over 10,000 people was handed to the fund’s managers earlier this wee asking for fossil fuels to be removed from its €336bn portfolio, British newspaper the Guardian reports. Of those who signed, around 60% currently have a  pension with ABP.

José Meijer, vice chair of ABP, told the paper: ‘These kind of initiatives are good. They keep us sharp. We are going to take a critical look at the influence our investments have on climate change and better communicate what we do.’

The campaign is part of a fast-growing movement, launched by the campaign group 350.org, which is putting pressure on global institutions to remove their investments from fossil fuels.

Norway’s two largest pension funds have recently divested from coal and Sweden’s AP4 pension fund is joining a coalition of investors to decarbonise the carbon footprint of $100bn of institutional investments worldwide.

ABP has 2.8 million members and is one of the biggest pension funds in the world.

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