| Tobacco producers excluded from Pension Fund |
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 The Norwegian Ministry of Finance has decided to exclude 17 companies that produce tobacco from the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG). The divestment of shares in these companies has already been completed. Earlier, the Pension Fund put companies seriously poluting the environment, violating human rights or producing inhumane weaponry on its 'black list'.“When the Graver Committee proposed the current ethical guidelines, there was debate on whether to exclude tobacco producers from the Fund. Under some doubt, it was decided that tobacco should not be excluded. After the Graver Committee submitted its recommendation, there have been international and national developments through the entry into force of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the tightening of the Norwegian Tobacco Act. We have taken these changes on board and believe – amongst others in light of the consultative input in connection with the evaluation of the ethical guidelines – that it is timely to exclude tobacco from the Fund. It is important that the ethical guidelines reflect at all times what can be considered to be commonly held values of the owners of the Fund,” says Minister of Finance Sigbjørn Johnsen. In Report No. 20 to the Storting (Paarliament) on the Management of the GPFG, the Ministry proposed excluding tobacco producers from the Fund. The move was supported by the Storting. The specific delimitation of the tobacco criterion was described in the National Budget for 2010. The recommendation was made in line with this. In drafting a new criterion on screening tobacco producers, the Ministry of Finance placed particular emphasis on finding a delimitation that fits well with the structure of the current ethical guidelines, including existing rules for negative screening of certain weapons manufacturers. On this basis, a rule has been adopted that in principle will exclude all production of tobacco, regardless of the percentage of business represented by tobacco production. This means that it will be possible to exclude a few more companies than those listed under the industrial classification “tobacco” by the index providers. The new screening criterion for tobacco production is limited to tobacco products and does not include associated products such as filters and flavour additives. The Norwegian Pension Fund is the most important governmental fund in Norway and one of the world's biggest investment trusts. The way it excludes harmful investments sets, in the view of Netwerk Vlaanderen, a good example for other banks and financial institutions. Source: The Norway Post (“Doorway to Norway”) 
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