APG wants to ensure, like 29 other large international companies and investors, that hundreds of billions of euros can be invested in the sustainable development goals of the United Nations.
The cooperation program is first set out to continue for two years. The collective will collaborate with the United Nations during that time to provide recommendations that should promote those long-term investments in SDGs.
The 17 SDGs together form a blueprint for a better and more sustainable world, such as clean energy, climate actions and the fight against poverty. Much more money is needed to finance these goals than can be contributed by governments; meaning companies and investors have to contribute as well. The collective has set the objective of significantly increasing the investments of the private sector in sustainable development goals.
Large companies
The group of investors present themselves as Global Investors for Sustainable Developments (GISD) and further consists of large companies active in the world of finance, such as GPIF, CDPQ, PIMCO, CalPERS and also Bank of America, Citigroup, ICBC, Infosys, Investec, Santander and UBS.
António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, emphasizes the importance of the GISD in a statement. The growing gap between the rich and the poor, disasters, conflicts, global warming; Guterres is happy to notice CEOs feeling a strong sense of urgency to address these subjects quickly. “This cooperation transcends national borders and sectoral boundaries. Collaboration even takes place at competitive level, and with good reason”, says the Secretary-General. Investing in the SDGs, according to him, is very sensible, both ethically and commercially.
Duty
Ronald Wuijster, board member of APG, considers it a necessity for the financial sector to collaborate in order to create solutions for a sustainable future. “APG manages the pensions of millions of hard-working people in the Netherlands. It is our duty to see them enjoying their pension in a stable, eco-friendly and equitable world.”
The pension provider, together with PGGM, recently announced the establishment of the SDI Asset Owner Platform. The goal of this initiative is to bring together like-minded long-term investors in order for them to be able to invest in the SDGs based on the same definition, classification (taxonomy) and data.
This initiative also fits in seamlessly with the objectives of the clients of our pension fund: ABP (goal: 58 billion euro) and bpfBOUW (goal: 12 billion euro) want to have considerably more investments in the sustainable development goals (SDIs).