Norway is divesting from some oil and gas firms Kristian Helgesen/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Norway has said its $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world鈥檚 biggest, should sell stocks in oil and gas exploration companies, in a move that is the biggest divestment from hydrocarbons yet.
The聽Government Pension Fund Global, which was built off Norway鈥檚 oil revenues,聽should聽begin phasing out聽$8 billion held in 134聽firms聽to reduce the fund鈥檚 risk from volatile oil prices, the country鈥檚 finance ministry said in a statement on 8 March.
But in a major concession, the withdrawal won’t apply to Shell, BP and France鈥檚 Total, the three biggest investments in the fund鈥檚 total聽, because they aren’t solely oil production companies.
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The finance ministry also said the聽decision wouldn’t affect the fund鈥檚 stake in the country鈥檚 state oil firm,聽Equinor, formerly known as Statoil.
鈥淭his is partial good news, but not fully good news as we expected,鈥 says聽Yossi聽Cadan聽at divestment campaign group, 350.org.
The fossil-fuel divestment movement grew out of university campuses and religious groups, and has seen trillions of shares in companies sold over climate change concerns. Critics say it reduces engagement by responsible shareholders, but proponents argue that it is effective by damaging the “social licence” the companies need to extract oil, gas and coal.
The central bank that manages Norway鈥檚 fund聽聽that it ditch oil and gas, not for climate change reasons, but to reduce its exposure to a collapse in the oil price.
That recommendation lead to a聽pushback聽from a government-appointed panel, which聽.
In an attempt to please everyone, the finance ministry said that exploration and production companies will be phased out from the fund gradually.
The compromise doesn’t make sense because firms not touched by the measure will still be involved in exploring and drilling, says Cadan. They may hold a stake in an oil and gas licence or operation, for example.
The government鈥檚 decision will now need to be passed by Norwegian lawmakers.
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