Investment manager PGGM abandons guidelines in partnership with LGIM and BlackRock, focusing on sustainability efforts.

In a growing trend among climate-conscious asset owners, several prominent fund managers are re-evaluating their equity holdings to ensure greater stewardship alignment. This shift, driven by concerns over sustainability, has led to changes in the portfolios of fund managers such as PGGM, LGIM, and PFZW.

PGGM, a fund manager for the Dutch pension fund PFZW, has announced a significant overhaul of its equity holdings. The Dutch fund manager has decided to terminate its €14.5bn mandate with US manager BlackRock, citing growing concerns over stewardship alignment. Sander van Stijn, head of mandate management and manager selection at PGGM, expressed his concerns about the fact that PGGM's voting preferences did not align with those of BlackRock.

PFZW's divestment from BlackRock is part of a broader trend. In response to insufficient commitment to sustainability, PFZW withdrew large equity mandates from BlackRock and AQR Capital Management, awarding a large contract to Robeco Institutional Asset Management instead. PFZW has built the industry's largest Voting Choice programme and a Climate and Decarbonisation Stewardship programme for clients who choose to prioritize those investment outcomes.

However, PFZW continues to vote their portfolio with BlackRock themselves for eligible clients who wish to participate in the stewardship of their assets. Similarly, The People's Pension's divestment from BlackRock for active equity management is not affecting its investments with BlackRock for money market funds.

Another manager affected by this sustainability drive is LGIM. PGGM has scaled back from its investments with LGIM, and campaigners have targeted both LGIM and Aviva over their votes at Shell and BP AGMs. In 2024, LGIM came under fire from climate campaigners for not putting sufficient pressure on Shell and BP's leadership to strive for Paris alignment.

Despite these criticisms, LGIM has been ranked relatively well in ShareAction's 2024 Voting Matters Report, scoring 21 out of 70 managers surveyed. In 2025, LGIM voted against a shareholder resolution at the Shell AGM calling for greater disclosures on LNG expansion.

The fund will now invest its listed equities with Robeco, Man Numeric, Acadian, Lazard, Schroders, M&G, UBS, and internally through PGGM. JP Morgan predicts that managers with greater credibility on climate could capitalize on growing demand, estimating a potential climate opportunity of $11.7trn for European asset managers.

JP Morgan Asset Management estimates that between €11trn and €17trn in assets are currently held by institutional asset owners with net-zero targets. This trend towards sustainability is likely to continue, with more fund managers aligning their investments with the fight against climate change.

Notably, Danish pension fund Akademiker Pension also terminated a DKK3.2bn mandate with State Street due to similar concerns. The People's Pension moved £28bn out of State Street at the beginning of the year, citing concerns over the manager's stance on climate.

As the world grapples with the challenges of climate change, the shift towards sustainable investing by major fund managers is a promising development. This trend suggests that asset owners are increasingly prioritizing stewardship alignment and sustainability in their investment decisions.