text stringlengths 0 7.73k |
|---|
Transition risks are about the future costs of making a property comply with increasingly strict climate legislation. In 2019, |
APG, in collaboration with others, launched an initiative that enables real estate investors to assess the transition risks per type of building and per country. |
[14] The initiative builds on the. |
Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor (CRREM), which is financed by the European Commission. With financing from APG and. |
PGGM, the CRREM project is being expanded to include the housing sector and important real estate markets outside the. |
European Union. |
Each year, the Asset Owner Disclosure Project (AODP) maps out how institutional investors and their asset managers take climate risks and opportunities into account in their policies. |
APG ranks fourth in the list of the world's 75 largest asset managers. The rating (A) is the highest awarded this year. More on how we are taking climate change into account in our investment choices can be found in Appendix 1. |
6.2 Climate Action 100+ |
In collaboration with around 370 other major investors, we are putting pressure on 161 companies that emit the most carbon worldwide. These include companies in transport, energy and agriculture. This collaboration has existed since 2017 under the name Climate Action 100+. By joining forces, we can effectively exert ou... |
Climate Action 100+ requires companies to: |
Nestlé announced in October that it wants to be completely climate neutral by 2050. This means that on balance the food company will no longer emit any carbon. Nestlé is committed to, among other things, developing low-carbon products and packaging, stimulating responsible land use and planting forests. Within Climate ... |
APG is also part of the ‘core group’ of investors that focus on major oil and gas companies within Climate Action 100+. In. |
December, the Spanish oil and gas company Repsol announced that it wants to reduce net carbon emissions to zero by 2050. |
This concerns its own emissions as well as those of customers, such as motorists and power plants. In addition to reducing emissions, Repsol also wants to store carbon and plant forests. |
Industry peer BP promised in 2019 to set measurable targets for carbon reduction in the short term and to link these to the remuneration of top management. BP has now further fine- tuned its climate ambitions. |
6.3 Energy mix. |
APG's total investments in the energy sector amount to approximately €30.7 billion. This is 6% of the assets we manage on behalf of our pension fund clients. At the end of 2019, 14% (2018: 11%) of our energy portfolio consisted of renewable energy. Our share of lignite and coal decreased from 8% in 2015 to 5% at the en... |
[14] The analysis is carried out by the Institut für Immobilienökonomie (IIÖ) with the support of GRESB. |
APG Responsible Investment Report 2019 30. |
Dilemma: Investing in nuclear energy. |
APG invests in the energy company Engie, whose subsidiary company is the owner of the nuclear power plants Doel and. |
Tihange (Belgium). We understand that people have concerns about nuclear power plants in their vicinity. APG uses its role as shareholder to keep emphasizing to Engie the importance of safety in nuclear power plants. |
In 2019, as in previous years, we talked to the company about the safety of Tihange and Doel. In our opinion, Engie is handling the safety of the nuclear power plants with care. In addition, the responsible business unit is under the independent supervision of the Belgian supervisor and the International Atomic Energy ... |
6.4 Investments in renewable energy. |
Our investments in renewable energy, such as solar and wind energy, increased again in 2019. At the end of 2019 we had invested € 7.4 billion (2018: € 5.8 billion). |
[15] |
In December 2019, APG acquired a majority stake in Merkur. |
Offshore. This wind farm in the German part of the North Sea consists of 66 wind turbines and has a capacity sufficient to supply 500,000 households with sustainable electricity. This will prevent approximately 18 million tons of carbon emissions during the lifespan of the project. This investment is made on behalf of ... |
Our infrastructure investments generate 5.3 TWh of renewable energy annually (2018: 4.7 TWh). Assuming an average annual consumption of 3,500 KWh per Dutch household, our invest- ments provide over 1.5 million households with green energy. |
6.5 Carbon footprint equities. |
APG is mapping out how much carbon is emitted by companies we invest in through equities and how much of this is attributable to us (carbon footprint). All pension fund clients have a target for carbon reduction of the equity investments. |
We constantly monitor the carbon footprint and are able to take it into account when making investment decisions. |
The carbon footprint of our equity investments has decreased by 37% compared with baseline year 2014. The reduction over the past five years was achieved primarily by investing less in carbon-intensive sectors (such as energy and raw materials) and by focusing on the best-performing companies in the sector with respect... |
[15] When calculating investments in renewable energy, we only include a company if a certain percentage of its production is related to renewable energy. We also include green bonds whose proceeds are used for renewable energy or technology related to renewable energy. |
APG Responsible Investment Report 2019 31. |
The sharp reduction in the carbon footprint is also linked to the exceptional situation in the financial markets caused by the corona crisis in the first quarter of 2020. |
[16] As a result, we invested less in sectors like energy and industry. Because these sectors make a significant contribution to the amount of carbon in the equity portfolio, the reduction of the carbon footprint has accelerated significantly. At the end of 2019, the reduction was still -30%. |
The absolute footprint was 20.4 million tons of carbon. This is a 44% reduction compared with 2014. During the same period, the benchmark footprint remained more or less the same. The benchmark is the pool of investments with which we make comparisons for our return and risk objective. The conclusion is that total emis... |
6.6 Climate commitment of the financial sector. |
Invest in the energy transition, be transparent about your carbon emissions and take measures to limit them. Fifty Dutch financial institutions, including APG, committed themselves to this assignment in July 2019 by signing the Climate. |
Commitment of the financial sector. In doing so, the sector voluntarily joined the National Climate Agreement. |
From 2020 on, asset managers and pension funds must show the carbon footprint of their investments and loans every year. |
APG has been doing this for equities since 2015. Now we are also going to map out the carbon impact of other investments, such as bonds and real estate. By 2022 at the latest, our pension fund clients will link them to concrete targets for 2030. |
It has also been agreed that the financial sector will contribute to financing the energy transition. In 2019, we set up the ABP. |
Netherlands Energy Transition Fund (ANET) on behalf of ABP. |
This fund invests in companies committed to the transition to sustainable energy in the Netherlands. ANET focuses on investments in relatively small and innovative projects and companies. ABP has set aside €50 million for ANET; the pension fund may increase this amount at a later date. |
6.7 Making homes sustainable. |
Help people to make their homes more sustainable in a financially attractive way. That is the idea behind the green mortgages of Rabobank subsidiary Vista Hypotheken (Vista. |
Mortgages). In January, APG announced that it is investing over €500 million in these green housing loans on behalf of ABP, bpfBOUW and SPW. Clients receive a discount on their mortgage interest if they buy a home with an energy label A. |
The discount also applies if customers upgrade the sustainability of their homes to energy label A during the term of the mortgage. |
In February 2019, APG co-created LIST Amsterdam, a platform for providing loans to Dutch housing corporations. This makes it easier for housing corporations to obtain financing for making the housing stock more sustainable, among other things. More about LIST Amsterdam in the interview on page 32. |
6.8 Responsible land use. |
Deforestation plays an important role in global warming; about 12% of all carbon emissions are caused by logging. Forests produce oxygen and extract carbon from the air. Logging and burning forests release greenhouse gases. |
In September, APG joined a call from 251 major investors to halt deforestation in the Amazon. In recent years, a lot of forest has been lost in this region due to logging and forest fires. The investors emphasize the importance of responsible land use for the preservation of biodiversity, food security and the achievem... |
[16] The carbon footprint is always determined on the basis of the portfolio composition on 31 March following the year under review. |
APG Responsible Investment Report 2019 32 |
”Increasing the sustainability of rental housing requires access to financing” |
Interview with Hans van Westrienen, Senior Portfolio Manager at APG. |
In order to achieve the agreements made in the National Climate Agreement, housing corporations must make 2.4 million rental homes more sustainable in the coming years. This is an enormous task that will require a lot of money. APG invests in bonds to finance housing corporations and co-founded a platform for direct lo... |
Why do housing corporations have to make their housing supply more sustainable? “In the climate agreement, measures have been agreed on to reduce carbon emissions by 49% in 2030 and 95% in 2050. |
[17] |
The 'built environment' must make a substantial contribution to this. For the housing corporations, this means that they must make 2.4 million rental homes - a quarter of the Dutch housing stock - more sustainable. Consider, for example, insulation and replacing gas with renewable energy sources.” |
That sounds like a formidable task… “Yes, it is. Add to this the fact that the housing corporations want to build 34,000 social housing units every year – double what has been built in recent years – to deal with the increasing housing shortages. And that they also need to invest in the livability of neighborhoods. The... |
Why does APG want to contribute to the financing of housing corporations? “It is important for housing corporations to have the money to invest in making homes more sustainable and in building new rental homes. On behalf of our pension fund clients, we want to contribute to the energy transition and to affordable renta... |
How is APG doing this? “In 2019, we co-created LIST Amsterdam, an online platform for financing Dutch housing corporations. The arrival of new financiers makes it easier for the corporations to attract money for investments. By now, the first loans have been granted through LIST Amsterdam. We also invest in bonds issue... |
Waterschapsbank (NWB). These in turn provide loans to housing corporations.” |
What about the return? “These investments provide a stable and long-term return. Loans to housing corporations for the performance of their public duty - such as building social housing - are guaranteed by the state via the Waarborgfonds Sociale Woningbouw (WSW, |
Social Housing Guarantee Fund). The interest rate is slightly higher than on Dutch government bonds. This enables us to achieve a higher return at a comparable risk.” |
How do these investments fit in with the sustainability objectives of our pension funds? “The bonds and direct loans to housing corporations contribute to cities and communities that offer a place for everyone. |
This is one of the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations in 2015. It is important to our pension fund clients to invest in companies and projects that contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. Our biggest clients, ABP and bpfBOUW, also have a separate target for that purpose.” [17] Compared wit... |
APG Responsible Investment Report 2019 33 7 Good corporate governance |
APG Responsible Investment Report 2019 34. |
APG considers good corporate governance a precondition for a company to be able to operate responsibly. |
7.1 An active voting policy. |
In 2019, APG promoted good corporate governance by voting at 5,000 shareholder meetings and having discussions with 716 companies. Our website provides an overview of these companies and the topics we discussed with them. In 2019, we voted on more than 52,000 proposals and resolutions on behalf of our pension fund clie... |
7.2 Votes on remuneration. |
The remuneration policy for directors should be in line with the general remuneration policy for the company's employees. We expect companies we invest in to clearly show in the annual report how directors' remuneration is managed, what the targets are and what performance must be achieved before any remuneration or bo... |
In 2019, we voted on 1,770 remuneration proposals. For 52% of the proposals this was a vote against (2018: 42%), for 48% a vote in favor (2018: 56%). Important reasons for voting against remuneration proposals were the same as last year: overly generous severance arrangements, insufficient link between remuneration and... |
In 2019, we spoke to twelve big companies about their remuneration policies within the framework of the Amsterdam. |
Group. This is an international alliance of pension funds and administrators, with a combined total of approximately €1.3 trillion under management. Of the twelve companies, three showed an improvement. |
CVS Health Corp: Profit goes down, bonus goes up. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.