Norway’s $1 trillion sovereign fund said on Wednesday it had excluded four Canadian oil and gas companies from its portfolio for producing excessive greenhouse gas emissions, its first use of that reason to blacklist firms.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd, Cenovus Energy Inc, Suncor Energy Inc, and Imperial Oil Ltd were excluded due to “unacceptable greenhouse gas emissions”, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) said.
The firms did not respond to requests for comment after market hours, according to Reuters.
“The Council on Ethics recommended to exclude the companies because of carbon emissions from production of oil to oil sands,” NBIM said, referring to its ethics watchdog.
Excessive carbon emissions became a criterion for exclusion from the fund four years ago, joining the production of nuclear arms, landmines and tobacco, human rights violations and other grounds for removal.
The ethics council had examined companies in the oil, cement and steel sectors before recommending its first exclusions based on excessive greenhouse gas pollution, the fund said.
NBIM said it had also excluded three other companies – Egypt’s ElSewedy Electric Co, Brazilian iron ore miner Vale SA and Brazilian power holding Eletrobras – for causing environmental damage.
(Reuters)
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