Responsible investment policies and instruments
Inclusion
Sustainability factors and responsible business practices can have an impact on investment risks and opportunities and so we evaluate companies we can invest in on the basis of return, risk, cost and the degree to which they operate responsibly. A proprietary method, outlined in the Inclusion Policy, is used to assess companies on the basis of ESG criteria. If a company does not meet these criteria, we can only invest if we believe we can encourage it to improve its sustainability performance.
Exclusion
150 companies on our Exclusion List
Our pension fund clients do not want to invest in certain products and government bonds. These are laid out in in the Exclusion Policy. We do not invest in manufacturers of weapons that are prohibited by international treaties signed by the Netherlands, tobacco companies, or in companies that manufacture (major components of) nuclear weapons. In the case of government bonds, we do not invest in the bonds of countries on which the UN Security Council or the European Union has imposed a binding arms embargo.
Sustainable Development Investments (SDIs)
€102 billion (19.7% of invested assets) invested in the Sustainable Development Goals
We actively search for investments for our pension fund clients that contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). APG joined forces with a group of other investors to launch the SDI Asset Owner Platform (SDI AOP) in 2020. The founding asset managers, APG, PGGM, AustralianSuper and BCI, apply a common definition for SDIs that allows them to report on and engage with their investments in the SDGs in a comparable way. The SDI AOP welcomes investors across the globe to subscribe, creating a critical mass of investors who together define the meaning of investing in the SDGs. More about how we approach investing in SDIs can be found in our SDI approach.
Climate Risk Policy
We have reduced the carbon footprint of our equity investments by 56% since 2015
As a long-term investor, we have long recognized the importance of climate risks (and opportunities). These are reflected in our Climate Reduction Target and Climate Risk Policy which sets out how we measure, monitor, and manage climate risks and opportunities, and manage and report on our carbon footprint.
Engagement
We engaged with 433 companies on good governance and sustainability in 2023
APG enters into a dialogue with many of its investee companies and investment entities in order to influence them to improve their performance on sustainability and corporate governance. We often cooperate with other investors and regularly discuss sustainability and shareholder rights with legislators and regulatory bodies, to increase our impact. For example, we collaborate with other major investors through Climate Action 100+ and the Dutch Climate Coalition to engage with companies to reduce their CO2 emissions and promote the transition to low-carbon business models. We are also a member of the Global Real Estate Engagement Network (GREEN), an initiative to help accelerate sustainability in the real estate sector. Find out more about the companies we engaged with in 2023 and the topics we discussed here.
Voting
We voted at 5,750 shareholder meetings in 2022
APG actively exercises its rights as a shareholder. We vote at the shareholders’ meetings of the companies in which we invest. We publish our voting behavior on our website and provide explanations of how we voted. Our Corporate Governance and Voting approach gives more information on how we implement our voting policy.
Our Stewardship Overview 2022 contains more details on our engagement and voting activities.
