Stockholm (NordSIP) – Following questions about AP7’s exposure to companies contributing to human rights violations in the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, the Swedish default public pension fund, AP7, has published a comment clarifying its view and what steps it is taking to address these concerns. Despite a firm belief it is not contributing to norm violations, AP7 is in the process of reviewing its investments and potential connections with conflicts and human rights violations.
AP7’s Norms-Based Investing
AP7 begins by clarifying that its operations do not contribute to violations of human rights or other international norms in the conventions that Sweden has signed, as expressed in the UN Global Compact. The Swedish pension fund notes that it does not actively chose assets, but rather tracks global indices. As a result, AP7 owns over 2,000 stocks from companies around the world.
This approach is enhanced by two annual reviews of existing holdings and the application of exclusions where AP7 finds evidence of involvement in violations of international norms. However, the pension fund admits this task is challenging due to the lack of reliable information about companies’ actions in conflict and war zones.
Challenges of Addressing Norm Violations
To address this issue, AP7 joined forces with the Council on Ethics of the Swedish AP Funds this spring, expanded information gathering efforts and invested extra resources in ools to review companies with operations in conflict zones, aligned with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP).
AP7 is now processing this information internally to assess the level of involvement and the extent to which companies are complying with the UNGP, by checking sources and contacting companies to obtain further information.
Stockholm (NordSIP) – Following questions about AP7’s exposure to companies contributing to human rights violations in the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, the Swedish default public pension fund, AP7, has published a comment clarifying its view and what steps it is taking to address these concerns. Despite a firm belief it is not contributing to norm violations, AP7 is in the process of reviewing its investments and potential connections with conflicts and human rights violations.
AP7’s Norms-Based Investing
AP7 begins by clarifying that its operations do not contribute to violations of human rights or other international norms in the conventions that Sweden has signed, as expressed in the UN Global Compact. The Swedish pension fund notes that it does not actively chose assets, but rather tracks global indices. As a result, AP7 owns over 2,000 stocks from companies around the world.
This approach is enhanced by two annual reviews of existing holdings and the application of exclusions where AP7 finds evidence of involvement in violations of international norms. However, the pension fund admits this task is challenging due to the lack of reliable information about companies’ actions in conflict and war zones.
Challenges of Addressing Norm Violations
To address this issue, AP7 joined forces with the Council on Ethics of the Swedish AP Funds this spring, expanded information gathering efforts and invested extra resources in ools to review companies with operations in conflict zones, aligned with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP).
AP7 is now processing this information internally to assess the level of involvement and the extent to which companies are complying with the UNGP, by checking sources and contacting companies to obtain further information.
