Norges Bank Investment Management has extended its engagement efforts on climate to U.S. companies in 2023, filing four shareholder proposals at annual meetings.
NBIM is the in-house manager of the Oslo-based Government Pension Fund Global, which has 14.44 trillion Norwegian kroner ($1.39 trillion) in assets.
Two of the proposals calling for emissions disclosure and reduction targets were withdrawn after the companies, Packaging Corp. of America and Marathon Petroleum, made commitments, while another two were voted on at the annual meetings of NewMarket Corp. and Westlake Chemical, a spokeswoman said in an email Friday.
At NewMarket's April 27 annual meeting, NBIM's climate proposal was supported by 28% of shareholders, with 60% against and 12% abstaining.
Results from the Westlake May 11 annual meeting have not been disclosed yet.
NBIM's 2025 climate action plan, launched in 2022, includes "supporting and challenging" portfolio companies to align their business models with net zero emissions by 2050. "We expect high emitters to set net zero 2050 targets as a matter of urgency, and all companies in our portfolio to have done so by 2040 at the very latest," the policy said.
Carine Smith Ihenacho, chief governance and compliance officer, said in a responsible investment report released in February that climate considerations are always part of engagements with companies. "Among several topics, we discuss the companies' climate targets, transition plans and emission pathways. We set concrete goals and follow the progress over time," she said.
This year, NBIM began listing all the companies it meets with on ESG issues on its website.
