The giant Dutch pension fund for health and social workers, PGGM (worth 88 billion Euros with 2 million members), has decided to withdraw its investments in Chinese energy company, PetroChina, due to human rights violations by this company in Sudan.PGGM has tried to “engage” with PetroChina for many years. However, according to PGGM, the parent company, CNPC, is involved in human rights violations in Sudan.... “and as the largest player in the Sudanese oil industry, CNPC is also a major financier of the Sudanese government, which commits human rights violations on a wide scale.” (IPE) This is the first time the fund has “disinvested” due to engagement failure.
I think this is a positive development. While I am a firm believer in engagement and trying to persuade companies to change, at the end of the day, you must be prepared to disinvest if companies continue to ignore their owners concerns.
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