Both the pension and the future fund are making massive investments which at least partly finance activities that destroy the environment, violate human rights and lead to social exploitation.
"[This includes] businesses that violently repress local populations, condone child labour or exploitation or knowingly cause environmental disasters. And of course primarily in developing countries, where it is much harder to maintain standards and multinationals can act with impunity.”
Marc Baum, MP from déi Lénk, argues that it is high time for parliament to take this matter seriously. It was not acceptable post Paris agreement to invest into fossil fuels:
“How can we try to convince people they should practice climate protection in their daily lives and institute a CO2 tax, while at the same time investing in companies like Shell, Total or BP? This is a blatant contradiction.”
Marc Baum pointed out a similar incoherence with nuclear energy: while the government is officially against it, its pension funds continue to invest in the sector.
Charles Margue from déi Gréng stressed that the legal framework would have to be verified to see if it was possible to exclude entire sectors. This would send a signal that the government was taking its responsibilities as an investor seriously. André Bauler from the DP noted that sustainability should be a priority for the investment strategy, but it couldn’t be the only one:
“These funds have a responsibility to the tax payer and those insured. They can’t be focused too unilaterally or bilaterally.”
Déi Lénk also criticised the lack of harmonisation between the two funds. The future fund is investing in 25 businesses that are blacklisted by the pension fund.
There should be more investment into the local and regional economy and into housing, says Marc Baum. While the pension fund was already doing this, it was not enough and poorly focused. Gilles Roth from the CSV added that the law should be changed so that some of the investments from the future fund could go to housing.
André Bauler from the DP stressed that stricter criteria were needed to obtain a sustainable financial management by the government. But the funds also have an economic responsibility in addition to a sustainable and social one.
The environmental organisation Greenpeace was present outside the Cercle to demand that MPs commit to a sustainable pension fund.
Video report in Luxembourgish:
