Sustainable investing in 2023

We believe that sustainable investment leads to a better world and, in the longer term, to better financial results. Whenever possible, we therefore choose investments that have a positive impact on our planet and its inhabitants. In doing so, we explicitly take into account the right balance between risk and return and the preferences of our stakeholders.

Concrete impact
As mentioned, we take sustainability into account in all our investments, but with so-called 'impact investments' we go one step further: with these we focus on companies working on positive changes in the areas of climate & environment, sustainable food supply and health & hygiene.

Currently, around 2% of Forward's assets are in impact investments. As there is no clarity yet on the upcoming new Forward scheme, we also do not yet know to what extent this type of (illiquid) investment will be possible or desired. Therefore, our board has decided to adjust the 5% target to 3% for the time being. As soon as there is more clearity about investing in the new situation, the target will be discussed again.

In this November 2023 retrospective (in Dutch, translation available in your browser), you can read about what our impact investments in 2022 have concretely done for the world around us.

CO2 emissions from our investments
With the steps taken by Forward in the field of sustainable investment in 2023, we also comply with (European) laws and regulations and our commitments to the Paris Agreement and the Dutch Climate Agreement. For instance, we now publicly report on the CO2 emissions of relevant investments, including a clarification of what measures are or will be taken to reduce those emissions. We are one of the first smaller pension funds to do so.

‘Investing for a good pension’ series
Earlier this year, we published a new article in the 'Investing for a good pension’ series. This was entirely about our sustainable investing policy.

Did you miss it? Then you can read it (and the previous parts) here:

 

July 2024