Dutch pension fund PGGM is to exclude PetroChina from its €88billion ($127bn, £65bn) investments because of concerns over the Chinese oil company’s activities in Sudan.
PGGM is worried about human rights violations in Sudan, where an estimated 200,000 people have been killed and more than two million made homeless by the four-year Darfur conflict.
It has decided to stop investing in PetroChina because the company failed, after six months of talks, to act on human rights concerns related to its activities in Sudan. PGGM currently has €37million invested in PetroChina, which is owned by China National Petroleum Corp and became a UN Global Compact participant last August.
The US Congress has clarified the fiduciary responsibilities of institutional investors wishing to exclude companies from their portfolios on human rights grounds, by passing legislation that permits divestment from companies operating in Sudan. The legal position had previously been unclear, or at least open to challenge in the courts.
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