Norway wealth fund turns up climate heat

Noway's sovereign wealth fund says it will vote in favour of proposals that would require ExxonMobil and Chevron to report more on climate risks.

Norway's $US872 billion ($A1.1 trillion) sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, says it will press US oil majors ExxonMobil and Chevron to do more to report on the risks of climate change.

The fund said on Tuesday it would vote in favour of shareholder proposals, opposed by both companies' boards, which would require them to report more fully about the risks and opportunities of a changing climate.

Royal Dutch Shell and BP adopted similar policies last year, following shareholder pressure, it said.

Exxon and Chevron both say they are already doing enough to report on climate risks.

"We want them to be open about their climate strategy and their dialogue with regulators," the fund's chief executive Yngve Slyngstad told reporters.

Firms should be clear about risks, both from the impacts of climate change such as floods and storms, as well as from government policies to curb carbon emissions, he said.

The fund, itself built from Norway's oil and gas wealth, was making similar demands of oil firms worldwide and would keep going even if the resolutions were defeated at Exxon's and Chevron's annual general meetings, both on May 25.

"We will then come back next year and the year after," Slyngstad said.

The fund said last week that it may exclude another 40 companies for using coal in their operations after divesting from 52 since Norway's parliament last year told it to sell out of firms that get more than 30 per cent of their turnover or activity from coal.


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Source: AAP



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