'Investing for a good pension' series

Part 3: Sustainable investment policy


The investment policy of the Unilever Pension Fund consists of four pillars. Below, we will take a closer look at the ‘sustainable investment’ pillar. It is sometimes also known as ‘(socially) responsible investment’.

The main aim of our investments is to obtain a good return – at manageable risks – so we can both keep pensions affordable and increase them annually. It is very important to us that the businesses and governments in which we invest do not do anything with which we disagree. We therefore look specifically at the areas of ‘environment’, ‘social policy’ and ‘good corporate governance’, also known as ‘ESG’ (Environment, Social and Governance).

Investment belief
We believe in sustainable investment because of its positive impact on the environment, for example, and because of the opportunity to contribute to limiting the consequences of climate change. We do not in fact look at sustainability and return separately from each other: we are certain that taking sustainability into account in the long run leads to both better financial results and lower risks. At the same time a pension fund must not focus exclusively on sustainable investment, risks or return: these three things go together.

Goals
All our investments meet (as a minimum) the five general sustainability goals that apply to all pension funds undertaking sustainable investment. They are:

  1. Respecting human rights, such as the right to life and freedom, to expression, to religious freedom and to food, work and education;
  2. Respecting labour rights, such as freedom of association and the prohibition of forced labour, child labour and work-related discrimination based on ethnicity and gender, etc;
  3. Combating bribery and corruption, such as extortion, fraud and money laundering;
  4. Preventing involvement in controversial weapons, such as biological and chemical weapons, landmines, cluster munitions and nuclear weapons;
  5. Respecting good corporate governance standards, such as dealing correctly with voting rights, management structure and behaviour and remuneration policy.

We supplement these five general goals with three goals we have selected specifically for our fund. Resulting from regular surveys of our members, they are:

  1. Protecting the environment and climate;
  2. Providing for a sustainable food supply;
  3. Improving health and hygiene.

In the sustainable investment field we also seek contact with other pension funds and parties with knowledge and experience of the field. In this way we learn from one another and can raise the specifics of our goals to a higher level. In 2023 for example, like many other pension funds, we extended our goals to include the ‘biodiversity’ issue.

Codes, conventions and other national and international agreements
Apart from pursuing the goals above, we are also committed to a range of national and international agreements, which are usually laid down in codes and conventions.

An important example is the Climate Commitment, which we signed in 2019, along with more than 50 other Dutch financial institutions. Its main aim is to contribute to achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the Dutch Climate Agreement. Both agreements include reducing the emission of gases such as CO2 as an objective.

In our action plan we have set out how we will implement the agreements in the Climate Commitment. We also publish the CO2 emissions of a considerable part of the Forward and Progress investments each year.

You will find information on other national and international agreements on sustainability in the financial sector elsewhere on the Dutch part of this website, under Beleggen > Duurzaam beleggen > Codes, verdragen en standaarden. Please see our instructions for a basic translation of the webpage into your own language.

Members support policy
Surveys from 2020 and 2022 show that our members and pensioners share the view that sustainable investment is important.

We carry out these surveys on a regular basis to ensure our goals are always in line with the thinking of our members. We also consider Unilever’s initiatives in this area and developments worldwide.

Want to know more?
In our sustainability plan we explain why we think sustainable investment is so important and how we do it. The plan also includes concrete action for the period 2024 - 2026

So much for part 3, on our Sustainable investment policy.
In the next eService we will be setting out how we put this policy into practice.

'Investing for a good pension' series
Part 1: Why we invest
Part 2: How we invest
Part 3: Sustainable investing

Part 4: Investing in practice (follows later)
Part 5: Investing now versus investing in the new system (follows later)

 

April 2024