Norway fund may have to offload $1.37b stake in shift away from coal

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Jun 14, 2019 06:00 am

OSLO Norway's US$1 trillion (S$1.37 trillion) sovereign wealth fund may have to sell a US$1 billion stake in commodities company Glencore and other investments to meet tighter ethical investing rules adopted by the country's Parliament.

Norway's Parliament agreed on Wednesday to the government's plan that the world's largest fund would no longer invest in companies that mine more than 20 million tonnes of coal a year or generate more than 10 gigawatts of power from coal.

Environmental campaigners Greenpeace and Urgewald said the new rules mean the fund would have to divest its 2.03 per cent stake in Glencore, worth US$1 billion at the end of 2018, according to fund data.

The fund would also have to sell its 2.16 per cent holding in miner Anglo American, worth US$620 million, they added, citing their own analysis.

The fund, Glencore and Anglo American all declined to comment.

"What this does do... is give a very clear signal to both governments and companies that the time for financing fossil fuels is coming to an end, for the benefit of both people and planet," said Mr Martin Norman, sustainable finance campaigner at Greenpeace in Norway. - REUTERS