Norway oil fund plans to withdraw from coal-burning utilities

In a move that could threaten European utilities using coal to generate power, Norway’s oil fund will consider pulling billions of dollars of investments out of the fossil fuel.

The finance committee of Norway’s parliament announced that opposition and governing parties had come to an agreement that the fund should withdraw investments from companies whose business relies on coal for more than 30% of its revenue.

Parliament will vote on the matter on 5 June but cross-party agreement means it is highly likely to be passed.

The move by the Norwegian parliament is one of the strongest responses yet to a global divestment campaign that intends to ?stigmatise the use of coal and other fossil fuels because of their input to climate change.

The fund has come under pressure to move away from fossil fuel stocks. In expectation of curbs on its investments the offloaded investments in coal mining companies and talked directly to conglomerates about hiving off their coal interests.

Edited from source by Joseph Green. Source: Financial Times

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/coal/28052015/norway-oil-fund-coal-burning-utilities-2338/