Malaysian forestry company Samling Global, which operates Barama Company Limited (BCL), has been cited for “extensive and repeated breaches” here, resulting in its exclusion from Norway’s state pension fund, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds.
According to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) wire report, Samling Global was excluded based on its “unethical activity” both here and in Sarawak. “The Council on Ethics has assessed Samling Global, and concluded that the company’s forest operations in the rainforests of Sarawak and Guyana contribute to illegal logging and severe environmental damage,” Finance Minister Sigbjoern Johnsen said in a statement. BCL could not be contacted last night for comment on the report.
Barama’s Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certificate was suspended in 2006 for various shortcomings in forestry management. It is unclear whether the decision would have any implications for the Guyana/Norway forest preservation agreement, which will see Oslo pay US$30 million ($6.2 billion) this year and potentially up to a total of US$250 million ($51.7 billion) by 2015 for this country to preserve its forests.
At the end of 2009, Norway’s state pension fund held 8.1 million kroner in stocks in Samling Global, which have now been sold. AFP explained that ethical directives from the government bar the fund from investing in manufacturers of weapons considered “particularly inhumane” and in companies known to be involved in large-scale human rights violations, corruption, the tobacco industry or environmental pollution.
Around 50 companies have already been blacklisted by the fund, including Boeing, Wal-Mart, EADS and BAE Systems.
In addition to Samling, two Israeli companies were also excluded on similar grounds of “unethical activity.” According to the Finance Ministry, AFP reported, the so-called oil fund, which contains nearly all state revenues from the country’s booming oil and gas industry, sold its holdings in Africa Israel Investments, the largest shareholder of Danya Cebus. The fund said the company was involved “in developing settlements in occupied Palestinian territory.”
The fund, which is Europe’s largest investor, held 2,792 billion kronor in international stocks and bonds at the end of June.
