Netherlands

In its early days, savings - rather than investment - took predominance in SRI in the Netherlands. In 1960, the ASN Bank was founded followed by the Triodos Bank in 1980. Both brought savings products to the Dutch market. They are still market leaders in the ethical savings sector.

As a traditional savings-oriented country, it took until 1991 before the first SRI fund - the ABF (translated as the "Other Investment Fund") - started. Since that time, SRI has grown rapidly.

In 1995, the Dutch Tax Office introduced the 'Green Savings and Investment Plan'. This makes very strictly green investment categories (such as wind energy, solar energy, and organic farming) attractive. Since 1996 these savings and investments have grown to account for 50% of all socially responsible savings and investments.

As the importance of SRI started to grow, the importance of shareholder engagement also gained importance. SRI funds and private investors did not only want to invest well, they also wanted to pose questions and raise their voices as shareholders. In 1995, institutional and private socially responsible investors organized themselves as the VBDO (translated in English as the Association of Investors for Sustainable Development).

Both Core and Broad SRI have increased dramatically in recent years. Since Eurosif 2006 SRI Study, total SRI Assets under management (AuM) have increased +816% from €47 billion to €435 billion at the end of 2007, one of the fastest growth patterns in Europe.

Institutional SRI in the Netherlands has shown incredible development in recent years. Besides a growing societal concern about the environment and awareness of social injustice, the Dutch financial community was rocked by a documentary that was broadcasted in early 2007. In this documentary several large pension funds were confronted with the fact that their SRI investments were minimal, and that some of their investments included investments in highly polluting companies or in producers of weapons such as cluster bombs. The broadcast acted as a wake up call and/or accelerator in the traditionally conservative mainstream financial market where only a few institutional investors had made efforts to increase SRI in their portfolio. Since the broadcast, the largest pension funds in particular have made genuine and impressive efforts to further increase SRI in their portfolio. The first results of these increased efforts include drawing up policies, and in some cases, implementing them. It should be noted that the documentary had a major impact but was certainly not the sole reason for the incredible development of SRI. Several of the largest institutional investors were already in the process of implementing SRI policies before the broadcast. It did however expose the financial community to a level of media attention that was unheard of beforehand.

Some facts about the NL market (as of 31/125/2007):

  • SRI Market Size: €69.4 billion as Core SRI and €366 billion as Broad SRI
  • Influential actors: pension funds and insurance companies, VBDO, ethical banks,
  • Leading Strategies: simple screening (weapons), engagement, integration, ethical exclusion
  • Legal Milestones: 1995 – Green Savings and Investments Plan
  • SIF (yes/no): Yes, VBDO since 1995

For more information on SRI in the Netherlands please visit their web site: www.vbdo.nl

Or download the Dutch section of Eurosif's European SRI Study 2008.