Norwegian Investment Management: Go Green!
On August 14, Norges Bank Investment Management presented “NBIM investor expectations: Climate change management”. The document sets out NBIM’s expectations as a long-term investor in relation to portfolio companies’ performance in the management of environmental and climate change issues.
NBIM aims to promote environmental issues and highlight the importance of the consequences of climate change. “Our portfolio is global and long-term and as such is vulnerable to climate change and environmental degradation,” states NBIM on their website.
The management works to raise corporate and investor awareness of environmental factors that may affect companies’ long-term earnings and profitability.
“In dialogue with the companies in its portfolio, NBIM will be interested in how the companies tackle environmental issues in strategic as well as practical terms,” says head of Corporate Governance Anne Kvam.
NBIM is now widening its focus to include a number of sectors and industries in addition to the energy sector, such as aluminium, cement, chemicals, oil and gas, power production and transport. The geographical focus area has also been extended – particularly to include Asia, as the sharpest increase in climatic influence is to be found in this region.
About NBIM
NBIM is a separate part of the Norwegian central bank (Norges Bank) and is responsible for investing the international assets of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund. NBIM also manages the major share of Norges Bank’s foreign exchange reserves and the Government Petroleum Insurance Fund. NBIM invests in international equities and fixed income instruments, money market instruments and derivatives, and has offices in Oslo, London, New York and Shanghai.