The Statfjord A platform in the North Sea. Photo: Statoil
The assets in the Government Pension Fund stem from oil and gas revenues and it belongs to the future generations. The assets are therefore safeguarded to secure the future of the welfare state. Ensuring good returns over time is important, but not at any price.
Norway is one of the first countries to develop a coherent policy on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in a global economy. Part of this policy is to base the investments of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund on an ethical foundation.
Four central values
The ethical basis for the Norwegian CSR-policy derives from the inviolability of human dignity.
Local communities formulate their own resolutions to prevent child labour in Côte d’Ivoire. Photo: Winrock International
The Government views four areas as central when it comes to corporate social responsibility in international operations. Companies should:
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Respect human rights in all their operations.
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Respect the rights of employees and create decent working conditions.
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Protect the environment and the climate.
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Engage in fighting corruption and increasing transparency about a company’s operations and their impact on people and the environment.
In Norway, all companies are expected to respect these values in their business activities, both in Norway and abroad. The same key areas provide a basis for the Government Pension Fund’s ethical guidelines. It is the Norwegian government’s view that state-owned enterprises must lead the way on CSR-action.
Screening and exclusion of companies
The size of the Government Pension Fund entails a significant and influential voice in the global market. In 2004 The Government took an official stand to what this voice should communicate by issuing the ethical guidelines for the fund and appointing an Advisory Council on Ethics.
The background for this is the belief that as an investor, the state also shares the responsibility on how the companies, in which the fund invests, conduct, what they produce and their impact on the local community. The Government will seek to actively exercise ownership rights, put companies under observation and exclude companies from the Fund’s portfolio. The Council on Ethics makes recommendations concerning screening and exclusion.
A year ago a new set of guidelines was implemented. The guidelines are specific on how the fund is to be managed. See the guidelines here.
51 companies on the blacklist
The Ministry of Finance may exclude companies from the Fund’s investment portfolio if there is an unacceptable risk that the company contributes to, or is responsible for:
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serious or systematic human rights violations, such as murder, torture, deprivation of liberty, forced labour, the worst forms of child labour and other child exploitation;
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serious violations of the rights of individuals in situations of war or conflict;
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severe environmental damage;
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gross corruption;
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other particularly serious violations of fundamental ethical norms.
The threshold for applying this exclusion-mechanism is high. According to the criteria grossly unethical activity must be involved. Currently, 51 companies operating on the international market are excluded from the Pension Fund. See a list over the currently excluded companies here.