By Muskan Arora
The $237.8 billion PGGM, Dutch pension fund
manager has appointed Lars Dijkstra as the new interim chief investment
officer, following the resignation of Frank Roeters van Lennep last year.
Taking to LinkedIn, Dijkstra mentioned that
he joined PGGM “to help them out with the execution of Strategy 2030”.
A part of this strategy is a reduction of
carbon emissions of PGGM’s investment portfolio by 50%.
Prior to taking over the office in
February, Dijkstra was the chairman of the board at Stichting Eumedion for six
years.
Before that he had worked as an external
advisor for De Nederlandsche Bank’s investment committee for almost eight
years.
He joined the bank after spending almost nineteen
years at Van Lanschot Kempen as both chief investment officer for sixteen years
and chief sustainability officer for almost three years.
PGGM
invests assets on behalf of Stichting Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn, Zeist, the
second largest pension fund in the Netherlands with €237.8 billion ($257
billion) in assets.
In recent times, the firm has made changes
to incorporate sustainability into daily decision-making processes and
operations.
In addition, Tosca Holtland was appointed as the head of corporate
sustainability, responsible for defining and monitoring the firm’s strategic sustainability goals. Holtland would also be monitoring the progress,
stakeholder engagement and consistent communication in different markets.
Roeters had been the PGGM’s CIO since April
2022 and stepped down in September 2023 to join energy firm SCW Systems as head
of business development.