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The VBDO, in its annual survey of the 50 largest pension funds in the Netherlands, found that less than 40 per cent of the schemes had involved a third party for ESG investments. Giuseppe van der Helm, director at the VBDO, told IPE: “There is still much leeway for progress by increasing the involvement of their participants, as well as the expertise on ESG matters of their board members".
The VBDO also found that pension funds were having trouble implementing ESG policies for alternative investments – with no more than 16 schemes having a “limited” policy for commodities. Van der Helm, acknowledging the difficulty of assessing the sustainability of alternatives, called for greater co-operation among pension funds for the development of a policy on positive selection, for example. He added that the VBDO was assisting this process by establishing knowledge groups for sustainable investment.
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