Norway’s $900 billion sovereign wealth fund to slash coal investments

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Norway has made a big move toward dropping investments in coal companies by its massive $900 billion sovereign wealth fund because of their impact on climate change.

Under new rules to be presented by Parliament’s finance committee on Thursday, the fund — also known as the oil fund — would exclude companies that get at least 30 percent of their revenue from mining coal or burning it.

The decision is expected to be formally approved by the full Parliament on June 5 because both government and opposition parties are behind it.

“Coal is by far the biggest source of greenhouse gases, so this is a big victory for the climate,” said committee member Torstein Tvedt Solberg of the opposition Labor Party.

The move was welcomed by environmentalists who have estimated the fund’s coal holdings at about $11 billion. It wasn’t immediately clear how much of those investments would be affected.

Source: Associated Press (link opens in a new window)

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Energy, Environment