Dutch pension fund exposed on national TV for financing Posco Daewoo’s rainforest destruction

On May 5th, a national TV consumer show in the Netherlands, Kassa, ran a 16-minute segment exposing the Dutch Pension Fund’s financing of Posco Daewoo, a Korean trading conglomerate that has destroyed over 270 square kilometers of pristine rainforests in Papua, Indonesia to grow palm oil.  Mighty Earth, Friends of the Earth Netherlands/Milieudefensie, and the Korea Federation for Environmental Movements have been calling upon the Dutch pension fund (ABP, and its Asset Manager, APG) to take action on Posco Daewoo.  Despite months of attempting constructive engagement by APG, Posco Daewoo has failed to follow through on its promises to reform.  As this story makes clear, it is past time for the Dutch pension fund and other global financial institutions to withdraw their support of Posco Daewoo and its parent company, Posco.  For further information, see this feature story, “Largest Dutch Pension Fund Involved in Clearing Rainforest”, in the Dutch magazine One World, by Leontien Aarnoudse.

View the original segment here.