Norway blazes trail by pulling huge sovereign fund out of coal

Norway's parliament voted today to pull its sovereign wealth fund -- the world's biggest --out of coal,in what is seen as a major victory for environmentalists.
The parliament voted unanimously that the fund -- worth almost 7,000 billion kroner (793 billion euros, USD 890 billion) -- must sell its holdings in mining and power companies that generate more than 30 percent of their output or revenue from coal.
The decision is expected to affect between 50 and 75 international companies, representing holdings of 35 to 40 billion kroner, according to finance ministry calculations.
However, environmentalists say the effects could be even more wide-reaching, with some estimates talking of 122 companies representing 67.2 billion kroner.

The stakes will have to be sold by January 1, 2016. The names of the companies affected have not been disclosed. The fund has shares in more than 9,000 companies overall.
According to a study done by a coalition of non-governmental organisations, the measure will affect 35 US companies, a dozen Chinese companies, eight from Japan, German energy giants EON and RWE, Britain's SSE, India's Reliance Power, Italy's Enel, Spain's Endesa, Portugal's EDP, South Africa's Sasol, South Korea's Korea Electric Power, Sweden's Vattenfall and Denmark's Dong.

Given the size of the Norwegian fund, the step is seen a major victory for the international campaign to end the use of highly-polluting coal, six months ahead of an international climate conference to be held in Paris in December.

"This could influence the way other big investors view coal as an investment," said Marianne Marthinsen, an opposition Labour member of parliament.
"The rest of the world is taking note of this decision."
Norwegian MPs also pointed out that their decision was not just a response to climate change, but also based on financial considerations: coal assets are bound to plunge as climate change efforts increasingly call for coal use to be reduced.