Socially Responsible Investing - Employee

StiPP wants to achieve a good return on investment for you, but in a way that takes into account the world around us. Research shows that you also think this is important. Socially responsible investing is therefore an integral part of our investment policy. We base the policy choices we make on the input of those involved in the fund, our 'stakeholders': the participants, the board, and the accountability body. We account for the choices we make and how we implement those choices in our annual report. On this page you can read which topics we focus on in particular.

Sustainable development goals
The sustainable development goals (SDGs) are seventeen goals to make the world a better place by 2030. These SDGs have been agreed by the countries that are members of the United Nations (UN), including the Netherlands. StiPP wants to contribute to achieving these objectives with its investments. We consider all seventeen SDGs important. But in our investment policy we specifically focus on three SDGs: health and well-being (SDG 3), sustainable energy (SDG7) and climate action (SDG 13).

SDG 3: Good health and well-being

Ensuring good health and promoting the well-being of all ages. For example:

- reducing global maternal mortality;
- ensuring universal health coverage, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all;
- reducing premature death from non-communicable diseases by a third through prevention and treatment;
- and promoting mental health and well-being.

SDG 7: Affordable and sustainable energy

Ensuring access to affordable, reliable and modern energy for all.
For example:

- increasing the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix;
- doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency worldwide.

SDG 13: Climate action

In the 2015 Paris climate agreement, measures were agreed to limit global warming. StiPP wants to contribute to the goal of reducing the emission of harmful greenhouse gases worldwide. We do this by investing less and less in companies with (large) CO2 emissions. Our goal is a CO2-neutral investment portfolio by 2050. We use the so-called EU Climate Transition benchmark as a measure to check whether we are achieving this target.

Further social ambition of StiPP
In addition to the above sustainable development goals, we have set a number of other goals:

We want to reduce the CO2 emissions of our investments by 2050, in line with the Paris Agreement.
ESG scores (Environmental, Social & Governance) count more heavily in the benchmark selection and in the construction of our investment portfolio, according to 'best in class' principles.
We aim for 20% green bonds in the government bond category.
We do not invest in companies that cause social damage.

We are also investigating the possibility of impact investments that contribute to the selected SDGs in unlisted investments. StiPP has decided to invest in direct lending (loans to small and medium-sized enterprises) from 2022, applying strict ESG criteria.

Vote

We exercise our voting rights at all shareholder meetings of companies in which we invest. In this way we are always informed. We annually publish the voting results of our equity funds in the annual report SRI (Socially Responsible Investment) and/or we refer to the website of the asset manager. We also want to mention which ESG component (Environmental, Social & Governance) was voted on. More information can be found in the Regulations.

'Best-in-class'

StiPP actively looks for asset managers and companies that score well in the field of corporate social responsibility and sustainability: the best in class, 'best in class'. The starting point always remains that the choice must be justified when it comes to return, risk and costs.

Commitment

StiPP actively approaches the companies in which it invests to talk about the environment, society, corporate governance or working conditions if there is reason to do so. We consider this to be a more important means than excluding companies (if this is not required by law). The main theme we are discussing ('engagement') is climate action. We have outsourced the coordination of the engagement activities to a specialized party. Every quarter, this party reports to us on all engagement activities. The SRI annual report accounts for the fund's engagement activities.

Exclusions

We choose to exclude companies if their activities conflict grossly with our SRI principles. We also do not invest in countries that are on the EU or UN sanctions list. The current list of exclusions can be found here.

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