A stress test of pension schemes across the European Union wiped out 270 billion euros ($298 billion) or almost a quarter of investments at funds that took part, the EU’s insurance and pensions watchdog said on Tuesday.

Many of the schemes were also not considering the impact of environmental, climate and social risks on their investment decisions, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) said in a statement. Investments by the tested schemes in shares also showed a high carbon exposure compared to the EU economy overall, it added.

Nearly 180 pension schemes from 19 countries participated in the test aimed at showing how they would cope with severe, theoretical market stresses, and the impact on benefits paid out and on sponsors.

The EU watchdog only gave aggregate results, with no scheme named or pass or fail hurdle.

The participating schemes had a combined “baseline” underfunding of 41 billion euros, or 4% of liabilities at the end of 2018, a sign of how the sector is already struggling in an ultra-low interest rate environment even before the test was conducted, EIOPA said.

“The adverse market scenario would have led to substantial aggregate shortfalls of 180 billion euros according to national methodologies and 216 billion euros following the stress test’s common methodology,” EIOPA said.

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