Norwegian pension excludes tobacco firms
The Norwegian Ministry of Finance is excluding the $518 billion Government Pension Fund Global from investing in 17 tobacco companies including British American Tobacco, Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco.
The Ministry of Finance drafted rules states the fund will exclude all companies that produce any tobacco, regardless of the amount the company produces.
This means the pension fund will exclude more companies than those companies that are described as “tobacco” by index providers.
Information regarding each company’s involvement in tobacco production was sourced from index provider, FTSE Group, and analysis of company websites.
Alliance One International, British American Tobacco, Philip Morris, Altria Group, Imperial Tobacco Group, Souza Cruz SA, Universal Corp VA and Reynolds American Inc are among those excluded from the fund’s investment universe.
Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global is a very active responsible investor. Last year, the fund placed the European engineering conglomerate, Siemens AG, ‘on observation’ after it was revealed the company had been embroiled in corruption early last year.
