Good news! The largest sovereign wealth fund in the world has just agreed to divest from coal

In what is set to be the largest divestment from fossil fuels ever made, the Norwegian parliament has issued a unanimous recommendation to divest its country’s sovereign wealth fund from the coal industry. This happened just hours after a coalition of groups delivered nearly 50 000 signatures and thousands Tweeted for Norway to divest.

As global climate group 350.org says: 

Norway's parliament agrees to divest its $900 billion oil fund from coal. This is the largest fund to make a divestment – ever. The Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global is not only the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund; it is also one of the top ten investors in the global coal industry. This recommendation asks the government to exclude companies deriving more than 30% of their revenues or their power production from coal. With all parties endorsing the recommendation, it’s widely expected to be formally adopted by parliamentary vote on June 5.

350.org expects that Norway’s Pension Fund investments in companies like Germany’s RWE, China’s Shenhua, Duke Energy from the Unites States, Australia’s AGL Energy, Reliance Power from India, Japan’s Electric Power Development Corporation, Semirara Mining from the Philippines and Poland’s PGE will, for example, all be shed. Read more about it here. 

For some more background, Greenpeace Norway, German environmental organisation urgewald and Norwegian group Framtiden i våre hender have also co-published a report on Norway's divestment: 'Still dirty, still dangerous'.

(The Guardian newspaper, however, has a more sobering take on the news, saying ‘World’s richest sovereign wealth fund increased its investments in coal despite high-profile pledge to dump fossil fuels, financial analysis shows’. You can read the full article: 'Norway's sovereign wealth fund accused of “pretend divestment”’ here.)