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Norway’s sovereign wealth fund to divest from fossil fuel investments

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A picture taken on March 15, 2019 shows wagons loaded with coal on a side track at Towarowy station in the southern Polish coal mining town of Rybnik, ranked among the top three most polluted places in the European Union. - Antiquated coal-fired power plants also generate nearly all of Poland's electricity, giving it some of highest carbon emissions in the EU. (Photo by Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP) (Photo credit should read WOJTEK RADWANSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

The world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund appears set to sell its $1bn (£788m) stake in London-listed Glencore, after Norwegian politicians today passed a bill to divest from fossil fuel investments.

The decision will see the country’s $1 trillion fund sell stakes in companies which get more than 30 per cent of revenues from coal.

It will no longer invest in those mining more than 20m tonnes of coal annually. Or which generate more than 10 gigawatts of power from the fossil fuel.

Environmental campaigners said the new rules would force the fund to sell its two per cent stake in Glencore.

It would also offload its $620m stake in Anglo American, the campaigners said.

“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 Martin Norman, sustainable finance campaigner at Greenpeace in Norway.

The fund may also have to divest from Germany’s RWE, Australia’s South32, and Germany’s Uniper.