Norway fund may have to offload $1 billion stake in Glencore in shift away from coal – by Gwladys Fouche (Reuters U.S. – June 12, 2019)

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OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund may have to sell a $1 billion stake in commodities firm Glencore and other investments to meet tighter ethical investing rules adopted by its parliament.

Norway’s parliament agreed on Wednesday to the center-right government’s plan that the world’s largest fund would no longer invest in companies that mine more than 20 million tonnes of coal annually or generate more than 10 gigawatts (GW) of power from coal.

Environmental campaigners Greenpeace and Urgewald said the new rules mean the fund would have to divest its 2.03% stake in Glencore, worth $1 billion at the end of 2018 according to fund data.

The fund would also have to sell its 2.16% holding in miner Anglo American, worth $620 million, they added, citing their own analysis. The fund, Glencore and Anglo American all declined to comment.

“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.

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