5/2/2009
By Sophie Baker
Following a recommendation from the Council on Ethics for the Government Pension Fund - Global, Norway's Ministry of Finance has excluded American company Textron Inc. Corporation from the fund.
Keeping in line with Norway's pledge towards ethical investment, the country has excluded nine producers of cluster weapons from the investment branch of the Fund on the basis of recommendations from the Council of ethics.
"The company produces cluster weapons, which are banned pursuant to the Convention on Cluster Munitions," said Kristin Halvorsen, finance minister. "We cannot participate in the funding of this type of production."
The Council made its recommendation to exclude Textron with reference to the new international treaty banning cluster weapons; the Convention was signed in December 2008.
"In 2008, an international convention to ban cluster munitions has been negotiated," continued Halvorsen. "The convention's technical definition of what constitutes cluster munitions is largely in line with the criteria the Council applied in 2005, but in some areas it is more stringent. This implies that production of munitions which have previously not qualified for recommendation of exclusion may fall inside the treaty's definition of cluster munitions."
Halvorsen explained that the Council of Ethnics found this to be true in the case of Textron.
Meanwhile, Canadian mining company Barrick Gold Corporation has also been excluded from Norway's Government Pension Fund - Global, on the grounds that investing in the company entails an unacceptable risk of the Fund contributing to serious environmental damage.
The Council of ethics made the decision that Barrick, which mines for gold in the Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea, has been accused of causing extensive environmental damage.
Halvorsen said: "Pursuant to the Ethical Guidelines, the Government Pension Fund - Global should not invest in companies that cause severe environmental damages. In its assessment, the Council on Ethics concluded that Barrick Gold Corporation is causing severe environmental damages as a direct result of its operations. I have therefore decided to follow the Council on Ethics' recommendation on exclusion of Barrick Gold Corporation from the investment universe of the Fund."
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