Norway's $1.35 trillion wealth fund said on Thursday it would step up its engagement with companies over the management of climate risk by voting against board members who it deems are not doing enough on the issue.
Investing the state's revenues from oil and gas production and managed by a unit of Norway's central bank, the fund is one of the world's largest investors, investing its cash across 9,200 companies in 70 countries, among other assets.
"We will now vote against board members if a company has experienced material failures in the oversight, management or disclosure of climate risk," the fund said in its annual report on responsible investments, published on Thursday. The fund has long engaged on climate change with the companies it invests in.
Its latest move was in September, when it laid out plans to firms to cut their greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, in line with the Paris Agreement and following a mandate from Norway's government.
In 2022, the fund discussed climate change at 810 meetings it held with companies that represent 33% of the value of the fund's equity portfolio.
One of them was oil major Shell, with whom the fund discussed the company's energy transition plan and climate change, it said. The fund and Shell also discussed the Niger delta oil spills, capital allocation, and the composition of the board.
Climate change was the second-most important issue discussed by the fund with companies after "human capital management", or how companies invest in their workers.
(Reuters - Reporting by Victoria Klesty and Gwladys Fouche, editing by Terje Solsvik)