Metal workers pension fund ditches fur, porn and weapons investments

The Dutch metal working pension fund PMT said on Monday that it had sold all its interests in companies which do not meet its own ethical, sustainable and governance standards.

In total, the pension fund has divested shares worth a total of €6bn, halving the number of companies in which it invests to 800. In particular, the fund no longer invests in companies involved in tobacco, the fur industry, the porn industry or which produces weapons.

The fund, one of the biggest in the Netherlands, says it has been working on the shift in strategy for two years and has taken the opinion of its participants into account.

From now on, PMT will only invest in ‘solid companies which perform well, carry out their business responsibly and which are accountable for what they do and do not do,’ the pension fund said in a statement.