"World’s biggest investment fund warns directors to tackle climate crisis or face sack", 3 Feb 2023

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s single largest investor, has warned company directors it will vote against their re-election to the board if they do not up their game on tackling the climate crisis, human rights abuses and boardroom diversity.

Carine Smith Ihenacho, the chief governance and compliance officer of Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages more than 13tn Norwegian kroner (£1tn) on behalf of the Norwegian people, said the fund was preparing to vote against the re-election of at least 80 company boards for failing to set or hit environmental or social targets.

Established in the 1990s to invest surplus profits from Norway’s huge oil and gas reserves, it is the world’s largest sovereign fund, controlling an average of 1.3% of 9,338 companies across 70 countries. Large holdings include Apple, Nestlé, Microsoft and Samsung.

“We all know, we live in a world with a climate crisis, and we have a role to play and then companies have a role to play,” Smith Ihenacho said. “So we have stepped up our expectations towards the companies when it comes to setting targets to get to that net zero [emissions] by 2050 target. And we will push the companies more in setting targets and understanding how they’re going to get there.” [...]

Smith Ihenacho said that if there was still no improvement the fund may sell its stake in the companies.

“We want to support and push the company through the transition to a low-carbon economy, we don’t see selling as going to solve the climate crisis,” she said. “But in the end, we may do that with some companies and we have already sold out to quite a few companies that we just believe have an unsustainable business model when it comes to climate.”

She said the fund was also taking a more active approach to tackling a company’s record on human rights, excessive executive pay, tax transparency, and boardroom diversity...