‘We earn more and more because we invest ethically': world 'largest fund
22:40
The new head of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund (Statens Pensjonsfond Utland - SPU), which manages assets worth $1 trillion, has announced an even more aggressive withdrawal from unsustainable investments in order to increase profits.
SPU is the world's largest sovereign wealth fund: it manages assets worth $1 trillion, and in 2019 it recorded 19.9 percent profits from their investments in 2019 – that is €165 billion. The fund, on average, owns 1.5 percent of shares of all listed companies in the world.
Now Nicolai Tangen, its new boss who took the position in September this year, announced that in order to increase profits, SPU will withdraw from investing in companies that do not meet environmental, social and corporate governance standards.
In recent years, the fund has gradually withdrawn from investing in coal mining companies and energy companies that use fossil fuels to produce energy. In 2017, the Norwegians sold their shares in Polish PGE. Last year, in turn, they decided to withdraw investments in 42 more companies. According to Tangen's announcements, there will be even more similar decisions in the coming years.
