Onno de Lange presented some dilemma's pension fund trustees and other policy makers face when they decide on whether or not they should start a programme of sustainalbe investing. The Institute for Pension Education had a booklet published on the subject which was presented to Dutch Central Bank.
In 2017 the Institute for Pension Education organised an event about the energy transition. Experts from McKinsey & Company, Shell and ExxonMobil concluded that it is clear that the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement goals cannot be met, even if all countries would commit fully to the goals. Investments in energy infrastructure would be very helpful, yet legislation restrains pension funds and insurance companies to make these investments due to high capital requirements they must reserve for every euro invested in infrastructure. instead, investing in the isolation of residential real estate is promoted which is hardly conducive to meeting the Paris 2015 goals on C02 emissions.
Even if every available piece of soil in the Netherlands would be used to build wind or solar parks, there would be nowhere near enough or reliable energy. Nucleair energy would help. It offers reliable energy at a reasonable rate and there are no C02 emissions. To meet the Paris 2015 objectives, some 2100 nucleair plants would be needed in Europe by 2030. At the moment France is infuencing the EU Taxonomy Committee to include nucleair energy as a sustainable, green form of energy. Yet sustainable investors do not wish to invest in nucleair energy, usually because they don't deem this form of energy sustainable.
In Syria there is a civil war. How many people there are thinking about climate change right now? Safety is a precondition for sustainability. A country's safety is connected with its defence possibilities. Building a defence against potential threats means to have an army. An army has got tanks. Tanks are made out of steel and use diesel. Yet sustainable investors often find investing in weapons, steel and oil not sustainable.
These are examples of dilemma's that may be discussed in order to decide whether or not a pension fund or an insurance company should change to sustainable investing.