Norwegian Sovereign Fund to Ramp Transparency on Responsible Investment

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) which oversees the US$1.2 trillion Norwegian Government Pension Fund, published its ninth report on responsible investment and launched its 2025 Climate action plan, setting out actions targeted at driving portfolio companies towards net zero emissions by 2050.

The report said 2022 was a year marked by both high activity and several new initiatives for NBIM’s responsible investment work.

“Climate change was high on the agenda also in 2022. We launched our 2025 Climate action plan, where we set out actions targeted at driving portfolio companies towards net zero emissions by 2050. We will actively push them towards this target, said Carine Smith Ihenacho, Chief Governance and Compliance Officer.

"We prioritise the largest emitters, and these account for about 70% of the emissions in the portfolio. Climate considerations is always part of the engagements we have with these companies. Among several topics, we discuss the companies’ climate targets, transition plans and emission pathways. We set concrete goals and follow the progress over time.”

In 2022, the fund had 2,911 company meetings. In the dialogue with the companies, NBIM said it emphasised good corporate governance, including how the boards manage risks and opportunities related to ESG.

“In addition to climate, biological diversity, tax and transparency and human rights were central topics. And now we are increasing our transparency when it comes to the company dialogue.”

"Transparency about our work is important. We now publish a full list of all company meetings on ESG. In addition, we report more extensively about the outcomes of our work,” Smith Ihenacho added.

#norwegianwealthfund #netzero2050 #responsibleinvestment