Editorial: Poor
1: all investments in companies which have tobacco as their main activity will be withdrawn.
2: it will be possible to use the vote connected with the Fund's shares to advance the environment and human rights.
3: one billion kroner will be subject to separate environmental criteria.
Our comments:
1: tobacco is not the world's worst industry, but it has become a major problem also in the west.
2: believing that up to 1% share will have any effect at the general meeting, when it is not allowed to make proposals or use discretion, is - to put it mildly - blue-eyed.
3: reserving one billion kroner, or 0.5% of the Fund, for an "environmental fund", which so far does not have any guidelines, will not have any effect on the portfolio of the Fund. The Bank of Norway will be able to rearrange the composition of the present portfolio, and that's it. The wish to combine ethics with international investments can be compared to walking into a mine field. The government has chosen to wear light shoes.
Norwatch Newsletter 8/99