Today, Thursday, the European Parliament voted on new rules on occupational pensions (1). Thanks to the persistence of the European Parliament's negotiating delegation, sustainable and environmental criteria must be taken into account in future investments, as we Greens\/EFA Group have proposed. <\/p>\n
Sven Giegold, the Greens\/EFA Group's financial and economic spokesperson, said: \"The new rules on occupational pensions enshrine the phase-out of fossil fuels in European law for the first time. This is a great success to strengthen investments in sustainable products. In future, pension funds will have to take social and environmental standards into account when they invest. This will protect policyholders from heavy losses when the phase-out of fossil fuels comes. Customers will receive more and better information about the investments. The new rules are therefore good for customers and the climate. Pension funds must act now and exit fossil fuel investments.\"<\/p>\n
(1) At present, occupational pension funds manage assets of around 3300 billion euros across Europe. When it comes to investments, occupational pension funds will have to pursue a divestment strategy in future, i.e. say goodbye to fossil fuels. They must invest customers' money according to social and ecological criteria and take good corporate governance into account. In the case of financial investments in fossil fuels, internal risk assessments must now mandatorily include any losses in value resulting from climate change. In addition, policyholders will receive more detailed information on their expected insurance benefits and on the costs of the pension fund.<\/p>\n