The Norwegian Ministry of Finance today added rules on active ownership to the ethical investment guidelines of the 2.59 trillion Norwegian kroner ($436 billion) Government Pension Fund-Global, Oslo.
The new guidelines give ministry officials more leeway before they ban investment in a company, according to a news release from the ministry.
“In some cases, it is more useful to put a company under observation than to exclude — for example, if there is uncertainty about how the situation will develop,” Finance Minister Sigbjorn Johnsen said in the release. “We monitor the companies that have been placed on this watchlist closely to see if they implement measures to remedy the situation before we make a final decision on whether to exclude the company.”
The ministry also withdrew its ban on investing in United Technologies Corp., which was excluded from the fund's investment universe in January 2006 because it manufactured nuclear weapons, the ministry said in a separate release.
Ministry officials determined that United Technologies no longer updates nor tests engines used by the U.S. government in its intercontinental ballistic missile program.
