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OIL FUND

Norway oil fund to make green investments

Norway’s oil fund has asked to shift part of its vast $830bn holdings into green infrastructure projects such as wind turbines and solar energy parks in the wake of last week’s climate deal in Paris.

Published: 15 December 2015 10:18 CET
Norway oil fund to make green investments
Norway's oldest windfarm, Smøla, developed by Statkraft in 2002. Photo: Statkraft
Yngve Slyngstad, manager of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, made the request in a letter to Norway’s Ministry of Finance, published in Norway’s Dagens Næringsliv business newspaper on Tuesday. 
 
“The bank believes it will be possible to carry out investments in infrastructure for renewable energy with the same profitability requirements as other investments,” wrote Slyngstad and Jon Nicolaisen, the deputy governor of Norges Bank, which manages the fund. 
 
Slyngstad was in Paris during the talks leading up to the historical deal between all of the world's 196 countries. 
 
“If we get a more sustainable world economy, it is obviously much more profitable for us in the long term,” he told DN. “The closer we get to an agreement that reduces the risk, the better.” 
 
Slyngstad's comments come after Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg on Sunday said the country would continue with plans for further offshore oil and gas exploration despite calls from environmentalists for the country to scrap such plans in the wake of the Paris climate deal.

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OIL FUND

Norway oil fund loses 18 billion euros in first half of 2020

Norway's huge sovereign wealth fund, the world's biggest, lost 188 billion kroner (18 billion euros, $21 billion) in the first half of the year as the global economy reels from the Covid-19 pandemic, the central bank said Tuesday.

Published: 18 August 2020 15:48 CEST
Norway oil fund loses 18 billion euros in first half of 2020
Unusually empty slopes and ski lifts in Hemsedal in April. Photo: AFP

The fund, in which the Norwegian state's oil revenues are invested, was hit by plummeting share prices, with stocks accounting for 69.6 percent of its investments.

Its share portfolio posted a negative return of 6.8 percent in the first six months of the year.

At the end of June, the fund was valued at 10.4 trillion kroner (989 billion euros), up from the 9.98 trillion kroner seen at the end of the first quarter.

“The year started with optimism, but the outlook of the equity market quickly turned when the coronavirus started to spread globally,” the fund's deputy chief executive, Trond Grande, said in a statement.

“However, the sharp stock market decline of the first quarter was limited by a massive monetary and financial policy response,” he added.

Real estate investments, which represent 2.8 percent of the portfolio, also posted a negative return, of 1.6 percent, while bond investments, which account for 27.6 percent of assets, posted a gain of 5.1 percent.

“Even though markets recovered well in the second quarter, we are still witnessing considerable uncertainty,” Grande said.

The fund is meanwhile still mired in controversy over the appointment of a new chief executive.

Nicolai Tangen, a billionaire who founded the AKO Capital hedge fund in London, is due to take over the fund on September 1st, replacing Yngve Slyngstad who is retiring.

But critics have complained about Tangen's possible conflicts of interest, as well as his use of tax havens.

The central bank has meanwhile been criticised for irregularities in the recruitment process.

As a result, some major political parties are opposed to Tangen's appointment, and it remains up in the air.

READ ALSO: Norway's oil fund loses 1.3 trillion kroner ($125bn) in coronavirus crash

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