Oslo divests from fossil fuels
For the full City declaration, see here (Norwegian only).
The new city council of Oslo will:
- Secure the most ethical and sustainable investment profile for the municipality’s investments
- Together with the Oslo Pension Fund begin the work to divest from companies that produce fossil fuel energy
- Facilitate close cooperation between Oslo Pension Fund and Norges Bank and KLP [a Norwegian Pension Fund] to contribute to a sound and ethical management of the pension funds, and use their list of excluded companies
The Green Party will form a municipal government together with the Labor party and the Socialist Left Party in Oslo this week, and have announced their common plans for the city. One of the main goals of the new coalition is to reduce pollution and increase well-being by shifting away from fossil fuels. The new city government has an ambitious plan to halve CO2 emissions compared to 1990 levels in five years, and to reduce them by 95 percent by 2030. Oslo will also join the global divestment movement by divesting their US$9 billion pension fund from all fossil fuels.
The Norwegian environmental organization Future in Our Hands (Framtiden i våre hender) has worked on Norwegian divestment for several years, and strongly praises the new divestment policies coming out of Oslo.
“We are extremely happy to see that, just weeks before the Paris summit, the new city council in Oslo makes a brave move, and becomes the first capital in the world to decide to divest from all fossil fuels”, says Arild Hermstad, leader of Future in Our Hands.
“We are very happy to announce that Oslo will take responsibility for the climate, both through our own policies and our investments”, says Lan Marie Nguyen Berg, first candidate for The Green Party in Oslo.
She adds, “The time for climate action is now, and the new city government will address climate change both locally and globally. The reduction in pollution will make the city even better to live in, and will ensure that we take our global responsibility. Divestment sends a strong message to the world prior to the Climate Change Conference in Paris that we need a strong agreement that will ensure we avoid dangerous global warming.”
Hermstad agrees with the first candidate, “There’s a strong symbolism when the capital city of our oil producing nation says “No” to investing in fossil fuels. It shows that fossil fuels are history, and that shifting away from them, and towards renewables, is the future. We expect and we encourage other oil producing countries to follow suit.”
Contacts for interviews:
- Arild Hermstad, Head of Future in Our Hands
arild@framtiden.no +47 980 36 762 - Lan Marie Nguyen Berg, Green Party spokesperson
lan.marie@mdg.no - Daniel Rees, Green Party Advisor
Daniel.Rees@stortinget.no +47 99 45 24 00