Norges Bank Investment Management, responsible for the management of the Government pension fund of Norway Sovereign Wealth Fund, and the United National International Children’s Emergency Fund, announced its newest collaboration, confirmed by both in a release.
Responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children globally, the United National International Children's Emergency Fund will collaborate with Norges Bank to explore the child-specific impacts of companies’ digital activities and develop a comprehensive set of child rights disclosures to improve reporting and transparency in this area.
A wide range of stakeholders, including companies, academia and civil society organizations will be consulted to understand current market practices and identify gaps that may exist. Recommendations are expected in 2025.
Building on previous collaborations between the two beginning in 2017, this third phase of collaboration will focus on children’s rights in the digital environment by producing a set of disclosures that aim to increase transparency on how companies impact children’s rights in the digital environment.
Concerns about digital safety is on the rise within the industry. On Aug. 9, Varma, Finland’s largest occupational pension fund with €60.9 billion ($66.4 billion) assets under management, confirmed it had joined a joint initiative by the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investing that aims to prevent negative impacts of social media and smart device use.
In 2023, AXA Investment Management and Sycamore Asset Management headed the collaborative engagement dialogue on technology, mental health and well-being, supported by the PRI. Today, the campaign involves 33 international investors that manage about €2.4 trillion ($2.6 trillion) in investments.
