Oil Fund receives little in return for environmental efforts – OBI Online

The so-called environmental mandates achieved a return of 1.1 percent last year, according to the fund’s annual report.

– We have had yet another year where environmental mandates have made it weaker than the broad market, says oil Fund chief Yngve Slyngstad said.

He recalls that the Fund’s other equity investments generated a return of 3.8 percent last year, and that environmental mandates therefore thrown considerably less of them.

Pull down

Ever since its inception the investment environment companies relatively fared badly.

– We have had an annual return of environmental mandates at 2.8 percent, which is significantly below the stock markets in general, says Slyngstad .

– There has unfortunately been the pattern since we started in January 2010, he says.

This means that environmental investments have had a negative impact on relative returns as oil fund has measured against the broad markets.

the environmental mandates are distributed in over 220 companies and are expected to total about 50 billion.

the main categories are lavutslippsenergi and alternative fuels, clean energy and technology energy efficiency and natural resource management.

out of the coal

Meanwhile, the oil fund, through its strategy of responsible management, become increasingly involved in the fight against climate change.

the answer shows that the fund last year, by financial considerations, divesting itself of 58 companies of environmental or climate considerations – as greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation or environmental destruction and coal mining related to electricity production.

But environmental groups believe the fund is nowhere near in aims to follow up the decision to pull out of coal.

Greenpeace, the future in our hands (FIOH) and Urgewald have calculated that a further 122 companies should have been out of the fund as a result of the decision on coal extraction.

the process is moving too slowly, says Greenpeace leader Truls Gulowsen.

– One might wonder whether the Bank has seen what Parliament adopted last year. Here there are still huge polluting coal companies inside, he said.

Gulowsen endorses also puzzled why the fund has divested from several companies with large emissions.

Oil falls

As the oil price dramatic fall fallen courses in oil and gas sector by 22 percent last year in the broad markets.

FIOH has seen oil fund investments in the 25 largest oil companies and emerged the fund’s investments have fallen by 13.5 billion. It is due to impairment and disposals, according to the organization.

Fossil investments are loss-making projects, believes FIOH conductor Arild Hermstad.

– We see it as positive that the fund has chosen to reduce its exposure to oil and gas in the past year, he said.

the Fund’s annual report shows that 5.4 percent of the fund’s equity holdings last year were invested in oil and gas companies. The investment had a negative return of 13.7 percent.