Exclusion
BeFrank invests your pension capital in a sustainable way. This means we do not invest in all companies, sectors or countries. When we deliberately choose not to invest somewhere, we call this an exclusion. On this page, you can read why we apply exclusions and which activities and countries we do not include in our investments.
Why do we exclude certain investments
We want your pension to align with our sustainable investment approach. That is why we assess companies and countries against our ESG standards. ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) refers to environmental impact, social policy and good governance. For example, we do not want to invest in companies that are involved in controversial behaviour, such as failing to comply with the law.
In doing so, we follow the values of our organisation, relevant legislation, international regulations and recognised standards, including (not all external websites are available in English):
- United Nations Global Compact
- UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)
- UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
- OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises
- International Responsible Business Conduct (IMVO)
Which countries do we exclude?
We do not invest in countries involved in serious and systematic human rights violations. In these countries we do not invest in (April 2026):
- Belarus
- Central African Republic
- Cuba
- Iran
- Libya
- Myanmar
- North Korea
- Russia
- South Sudan
- Sudan
- Syria
- Venezuela
- Zimbabwe
Which activities do we (partially) exclude
Below is an overview of the activities that we fully, partially or do not exclude per type of investment (April 2026).
| Activities | Passive investing | Active investing | Sustainable investing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Controversial behaviour | Excluded | Excluded | Excluded |
| Controversial and nuclear weapons | Excluded | Excluded | Excluded |
| Controversial weapons | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded |
| Tobacco production | Excluded | Excluded | Excluded |
| Tobacco sales | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded > 10% of revenue |
| Unconventional oil from tar sands | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded |
| Arctic oil and gas | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded |
| Shale oil and gas | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded |
| Thermal coal mining | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded |
| Thermal coal power generation | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded |
| Alcohol | Not excluded | Not excluded | Excluded |
| Gambling | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded |
| Fur and special leather | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded |
| Animal testing, industrial livestock farming and fishing | Not excluded | Not excluded | Excluded |
| Pornography industry | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded |
| Palm oil | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Not excluded |
| Private prisons | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Not excluded |
| Controversial lending | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Excluded > 5% of revenue | Not excluded |
| Nuclear energy | Not excluded | Not excluded | Excluded |
| Minerals from conflict areas | Not excluded | Not excluded | Excluded |
| Companies responsible for biodiversity damage, deforestation or genetic modification | Not excluded | Not excluded | Excluded |
We do more
‘Exclusion’ is just one of the tools we use to invest sustainably. In our sustainable investment policy, you can read which other instruments we apply and how we use them for each investment style.