Norwegian pension fund manager KLP has sold 3.2 billion crowns ($366 million) of bond and equity exposure in 46 companies, including leading miners BHP and Anglo American, after a decision to withdraw from thermal coal.
Fund managers have become increasingly reluctant to risk investing in companies linked to fossil fuels or other activities regarded as unsustainable as popular pressure mounts for action to limit environmental damage.
KLP also said it sold its 97 million crown stake in Brazilian miner Vale last month because of concerns over a dam disaster that killed an estimated 300 people in January.
On Tuesday KLP said it would no longer invest in any company that obtains more than 5 percent of revenue from coal-based activities, adding that the minimal threshold is because it is difficult to get accurate information on all revenue below that level.
“Coal cannot and should not be part of energy supply in the future,” Chief Executive Sverre Thornes said in a statement.
KLP, which manages about 600 billion crowns in total, has progressively cut its coal exposure and says its stance now is among the strictest of any passive fund.
Vale, Anglo American and BHP did not have any immediate comment.
BHP is the world’s biggest shipper of coking coal, used for steelmaking, but also has some thermal coal.
KLP said it had previously divested from Glencore, the world’s biggest shipper of seaborne coal, which this year said it has capped its coal capacity.
BNP Paribas Asset Management said in March that it would stop investing in companies that obtain more than 10 percent of their revenue from thermal coal.
($1 = 8.7356 Norwegian crowns)
(By Barbara Lewis and Christian Plumb; Editing by David Goodman)
