The coronavirus pandemic has stress-tested companies around the globe. As the world's largest shareholder, we have seen this at close hand. All in all, we held 2,877 meetings with companies in 2020. We also voted on 121,619 resolutions at shareholder meetings and began to publish an explanation whenever voting against the board's recommendation.
Voting is one of the most important tools we have as a shareholder for safeguarding the fund's assets. We voted at 11,871 shareholder meetings in 2020.
We aim to vote at all shareholder meetings at companies in our portfolio. We voted at 98.0 percent of the company shareholder meetings in 2020.
As a long term investor, we engage in regular dialogue with our largest companies. The aim is to promote good corporate governance and responsible business practices.
In 2020, we divested from 32 companies following assessment of environmental, social and governance risks. Altogether we have divested from 314 companies since 2012.
Norges Bank makes decisions on the observation and exclusion of companies after receiving a recommendation from the Council of Ethics. Norges Bank excluded 15 companies and revoked the exclusion of three companies in 2020.
