Sustainable investing

In practice, opting out of child labour has proven to be virtually impossible. A lot of child labour takes place in the supply chain, which is difficult to oversee. The textile chain is a good example of this. Supply chain companies are almost never directly involved in child labour, but they may be indirectly involved. It is more meaningful to assess how companies deal with child labour when it does turn out to be taking place in their chain. Do they communicate with the supplier? Are they open about where they have their products made? Do they perform checks? Are those checks having any results? Our assessment of the company's sustainability takes all this into account.

We want to invest in emerging markets to contribute to the UN’s sustainable development goals. These countries often need funding to further their economic progress, reduce poverty and invest in basic needs. At the same time, people often associate companies in these countries with corruption, pollution and poor working conditions. 

We also look at ESG ratings and any controversies surrounding listed companies in emerging markets, and we select only the best companies. We have also selected several funds that invest in unlisted companies in emerging markets, which consequently do not have an ESG rating. However, the fund managers make sure the companies in these funds have a strong ESG policy.

We consider all weapons manufacturers as unsustainable and we exclude them from any sustainable investments. Of course this also includes more controversial weapons such as nuclear weapons. So does this mean that we have to exclude government bonds from countries that have nuclear weapons, such as France? France has signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty and is a member of NATO. France will therefore only use nuclear weapons reactively in extreme cases. France is also making significant efforts to meet the climate goals and is therefore helping to combat climate change. That is why we are not excluding government bonds from France or other countries that have signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

National and international rules on the use of GMOs have been agreed. Not all food manufacturers are transparent about whether any GMOs have been mixed into their products. GMOs are relatively new, so questions remain about the long-term effects. Many people are therefore against genetically modified foods. However, the world's demand for food is rising fast as the global population rockets, so we may need GMOs to meet this demand.

Animal testing is important and sometimes is even legally required to manufacture safe, good-quality medicines and food. Although these tests encounter resistance in society at large, they remain necessary for the time being. It goes without saying that this requires careful consideration as we make our investment choices.

Modern nuclear power is a relatively 'clean' way to generate energy. The CO2 emissions are minimal and modern nuclear power plants are far safer than the older generations. They also produce less nuclear waste. Nuclear power will remain an important part of the energy mix if we wish to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. Even though modern plants produce minimal amounts of nuclear waste, this is still a problem when it comes to public opinion. 

We will generally not invest in companies that are involved exclusively in nuclear power generation. However, we may invest in energy companies with nuclear power operations in addition to other forms of energy. Or rather, we invest in green bonds issued by these companies. These are bonds whose proceeds are used specifically to fund sustainable energy projects, such as wind turbines and solar panels. We also want to encourage companies that are involved in nuclear energy to invest in renewable energy via these bonds.