Posted on 04 April 2014
| (Oslo, Norway) – Norway announced today
that it will increase investment in environmental
projects, but fell short of setting an increased
dollar amount specifically targeting the
renewable energy sector. The move falls
short of expectations of increased investment
in renewables like wind and solar.
Although the government
mandated the country’s sovereign wealth
fund to invest more in environmentally-related
stocks, the directive does little to increase
the actual impact of those investments with
regard to renewable energy.
Norway announced that
stock investments made by the fund will
grow from approximately $5 billion to approximately
$8.4 billion under the new mandate. This
is despite recent announcements from the
prime minster linking the fund’s investment
changes to action on climate change.
“WWF expected the government
to deliver something big on the sovereign
wealth fund, particularly in light of its
failure to act elsewhere on climate change,”
says Nina Jensen, CEO of WWF-Norway. “The
government has raised ambition on the fund
through its platform and the prime minister’s
statements. We and others supported that
level of ambition but now we see it was
an empty promise.”
Last month, Norway announced
that it would mandate the country’s sovereign
wealth fund, the world’s largest state fund,
to invest in renewable energy. Today’s announcement
came amid expectations that Norway would
extend the existing mandate from stocks
to include infrastructure, in order to allow
for the $838 billion fund to directly finance
projects like solar and wind farms.
Norway’s announcement
comes at a time when any delay at a global
scale can redefine the trajectory of climate
change. Last week, the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change highlighted the
tragic impacts that could accompany climate
change. Next week, the same group of experts
will meet in Berlin where it is expected
they will say that changing global energy
systems toward renewables is the main way
to tackle the climate challenge.
“This was Norway’s chance
to deliver on climate change, the same week
that world scientists have released their
report on intense impacts of climate change,”
says Samantha Smith, Leader of WWF’s Global
Climate & Energy Initiative. “Norway
knows what it has to do, and how to do it,
but today’s announcement doesn’t reflect
that.”
While it was hoped that
Norway would direct more money from the
state fund toward renewable energy, today’s
move falls far short of expectations. A
commitment of up to 5% of the fund toward
renewables could have been a scale large
enough to cause ripple effects on renewable
energy investment around the world.
“Every decision Norway
makes on this fund sends signals around
the world,” says Nina Jensen. “Norway can
make a huge difference in the world, and
this announcement falls short of meeting
expectations of the people of Norway and
of the world.”
While Norway did not
set aside a specific amount for renewable
investment, today’s directive requests the
fund’s manager, Norwegian Bank Investment
Management, to review and report on the
success of new investments made by the pension
fund.
