ABP invests in building affordable homes in the Netherlands … and in demolishing homes in Palestine.

In a press release on 19th May, pension fund ABP proudly announced that it is co-operating with CBRE Investment Management to build “sustainable and affordable” homes for rent. Over the coming 5 years, they will jointly invest €1 billion in over 3,000 energy-efficient homes, the first of which will be built in Utrecht.

All very good news for renters in Dutch cities such as Utrecht, of course, where there is a desperate housing crisis. But not as desperate as in Palestine, where the occupying Israeli regime is busily demolishing homes throughout the West Bank and of course in Gaza. The company most notorious for profiting from the demolition of Palestinian homes is Caterpillar with its reinforced D9 bulldozer. And it just so happens that ABP almost doubled its investment in Caterpillar last year, from € 242 mln at the end of June 2024 to € 463 mln at the end of December.

ABP almost doubled its investments in Caterpillar

ABP’s Chair, Harmen van Wijnen, boasts that ABP is “building together for a good pension in a livable world”, to benefit ABP members who are currently “imprisoned in a tight housing market”. He obviously inhabits a different world from the Palestinians, many of whom are literally imprisoned in administrative detention without trial, or who are trapped in the open-air prison that is Gaza. Their world is very far from livable.

At the end of 2024, ABP conducted a survey among a sample of its members about their views on its investment policies. Almost 3,000 members completed the survey, and 78% of these said that they felt it was important that ABP invests “responsibly”. The same proportion said that they supported the choice to defend human rights. Members were also asked where ABP should not invest, and a large majority of respondents were opposed to investing in pesticides, palm oil or porn, amongs other sectors.

We know from our own supporters who received the survey that there was also a question about which countries ABP should not invest in, and we expect that a high proportion of respondents put Israel at the top of that list, as our supporters certainly did. But strangely enough ABP does not report on the results of that part of the survey. Why not?

When will ABP end its hypocrisy, listen to its members and divest completely from Israel, and from companies like Caterpillar which make profits from illegal occupation and human misery?