Pensioenfonds Gasunie moves €1bn equity portfolio from BlackRock to State Street

The €2 billion retirement scheme of Dutch energy giant Gasunie, Pensioenfonds Gasunie, has reportedly switched a €1bn equity portfolio from BlackRock to State Street.

The Groningen, Netherlands-based pension fund of the Dutch natural gas provider has transferred its equity investments to a newly developed Climate Transition Benchmark.

Pensioenfonds Gasunie confirmed the move to Net Zero Investor.

At BlackRock, Pensioenfonds Gasunie participated in a number of investment funds, but at State Street it has its own mandate.

"Together with State Street we have developed our own index. This is based on a participants survey in which questions were included about responsible investment, but also our own board's vision", chairman Joost Hooghiem said.

"This has been a fairly complex process, we had to open bank accounts all over the world," he added.

"In our index are shares in both developed as well as emerging markets. We follow the MSCI ACWI Climate Transition Benchmark, with an uplift of around 20%," Hooghiem continued. 

He explained: "This means that we only select companies which have a better climate benchmark than the average company. That is how we arrive at 20%."

The pension does not exclude fossil fuel firms. 

"We do think these firms are a good fit for Gasunie, which is going through its own energy transition and is working towards a net zero world," Hooghiem noted.

"That is why we want to invest and participate in other fossil fuel firms who are making similar steps to meet climate targets in 2030 and 2050. We only exclude firms that outright refuse to follow a climate-friendly path," he concluded.