Norway’s Trillion Dollar Wealth Fund Prompt Barclays Sustainability Commitments
(30 April 2020 – Europe) The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund has declared they will vote in favour of a resolution requiring Barclays commitment to sustainability guidelines.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund holds 2.9 percent of Barclays shares which was worth US$1.2 billion at the end of 2019. Barclays is pledging to be a ‘net zero’ emissions bank within the next 30 years and is setting a strategy for transitioning its provision of financial services to align with the goals and timelines of the Paris Agreement, reporting progress annually.
The world’s biggest fund lost a record 1.17 trillion kroner (US$113 billion) in Q1 2020 after the coronavirus pandemic market shock reverberated through global stock indices. The fund incurred a loss of 14.6 percent in Q1 2020. The loss was recorded at an historic time for the fund as it may be forced to liquidate assets for the first time to cover Norway’s emergency spending measures. During Q1 2020, government withdrawals reached 67 billion kroner and is set to expand in Q2 2020.
“We expect all companies in our portfolio to be transparent about their strategy for calculating, disclosing and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in their operations and value chain” the fund stated,
“The exact nature of implementation, such as the magnitude, frameworks and timelines for emissions reduction, should be determined by the board and management”, they added.
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