Norway’s $1.2 Trillion Investment Fund Sets 2050 Climate Target

The huge government fund that invests Norway's oil revenue said on Tuesday that it was going to step up its efforts to convince companies to cut their carbon dioxide emissions.

For the first time, the $1.2 trillion fund has set a date by which companies should either emit no carbon or offset their emissions by removing equivalent amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. The fund has stakes in over 9000 companies around the world and is part of a large asset management group.

The main goal of the Paris Climate Agreement is to limit the warming of the atmosphere to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.

According to the chief executive of Norway's fund, if you don't have proper climate ambitions, you don't have a business. You won't be able to get loans from the bank, you won't have any clients, and you won't have any people working for you.

Companies are being urged by Norway's fund to come up with plans to reduce emissions. Large companies have net-zero plans, but sometimes they lack detail. Management teams and boards are often pressed to do more. On Tuesday, Norway's fund said it would sell companies it deemed to be lagging, saying that it would "divest from companies with unmitigatedclimate risks, especially where engagement has failed or is unlikely to succeed."

Even though investors face challenges to their climate activism, Norway's fund is putting pressure on them.

Over the past year, soaring oil and natural gas prices have resuscitated the profits and stock prices of energy companies, showing that fossil fuels can still be profitable. There have been calls for energy companies to produce more, not less, because of the shortages of oil and gas.

Republicans say big investment firms are using their heft to push for progressive policies, and climate initiatives by large asset managers face growing political opposition.

"From Wall Street banks to massive asset managers and big tech companies, we have seen the corporate elite use their economic power to impose policies on the country that they couldn't achieve at the ballot box."

Investment funds may keep their stakes in companies that emit the most carbon for a long time. Shareholders can help bring about the biggest reductions in emissions by pushing for moreambitious climate plans. Large oil companies have enough money to invest in technologies that can help slash emissions, like the current attempts to suck carbon out of the air.

The solution is found in the big integrated energy companies.

The fund intends to invest more in renewable energy companies. Mr. Tangen said the fund was having a hard time finding attractive investments in this field.

He said that the competition was very high. The returns you make are not very high.