Norway's Ministry of Finance appointed an "expert group" to assess how climate change, climate policy and the shift toward a low-carbon economy will impact on the country's sovereign wealth fund.
The group's findings will examine the importance of financial climate risk and climate-related investment opportunities on the 10.91 trillion Norwegian kroner ($1.28 trillion) Government Pension Fund Global, Oslo, under different scenarios.
The ministry needs more knowledge on how the transition to a low-carbon emissions society could affect the sovereign wealth fund's exposure to climate risk and climate-related investment opportunities, Jan Tore Sanner, minister of finance, said in a translation of a news release.
The expert group is led by Martin Skancke, chairman of the board of the Principles for Responsible Investment, a member of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures initiative and a board member of Norwegian financial services firm Storebrand. The other members are Kristin Halvorsen, director of the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research; Tone Bjornstad Hanstad, an investment professional at Norwegian financial firm Ferd; and Karin S. Thorburn, professor at NHH Norwegian School of Economics. Thomas Ekeli, former chief economist at Folketrygdfondet, which runs the assets of the 272 billion kroner Government Pension Fund Norway, Oslo, will be secretary of the group.
The group's assessment report will be submitted on Aug. 15. The ministry wants a report that discusses alternative ways of dealing with the impacts of financial climate risk and investment opportunities for the GPFG. The report will also assess whether new knowledge related to climate-change is important for the key factors that form the basis of the wealth fund's investment strategy and for operational management. This part of the assessment should outline how financial markets handle climate risk and the characteristics of such risk vs. other financial risk. To what extent climate risk is priced into financial markets should also be included.
Finally, the ministry wants examples of what other, comparable funds are doing in the area of climate-change risk and opportunities.
The group also wants input from external organizations via email by March 31.
