Equity management

Responsible investment

Norges Bank Investment Management is an active owner with a long investment horizon. Well-functioning, legitimate and efficient markets, good corporate governance and sustainable business practices are important to us. We therefore consider environmental, social and governance issues at the companies we invest in.

Voting and expectations to companies

We exercise our voting rights and engage with companies’ board and management to safeguard the fund’s investments. Selected topics are followed up across the companies in the portfolio. We have also formulated expectations for how we expect companies to manage risk and report on their activities. We publish position papers, our voting guidelines and how we voted at companies’ general meetings.

Our voting can be accessed one business day after the general meeting has concluded. 

Observation and exclusion and risk assessments

The Ministry of Finance has issued guidelines on the observation and exclusion of companies from the Government Pension Fund Global.  The ministry has set up a Council on Ethics as an independent body to investigate and evaluate companies and make recommendations on observation and exclusion. Norges Bank’s Executive Board takes the actual decision to exclude a company or place it under observation following a recommendation from the Council on Ethics.

Norges Bank Investment Management views risk-based divestments as a tool to reduce our exposure to risks that we believe could have a negative impact on the portfolio over time. The decision to reduce our exposure to individual sectors or companies through risk-based divestments is based on a total assessment of individual companies´ exposure to, and management of, relevant environmental, social and governance risk.