Parting from oil and gas is harder (Image: Oliver C Wright/Getty)

RIGHT on the money. The campaign to persuade big investors to sell off fossil fuel holdings has had its greatest triumph yet. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund must sell off its $5 billion of coal holdings, the country’s parliament voted last week. The fund is the largest stockholder in Europe, worth an astounding $900 billion.

The largest stockholder in Europe, Norway’s wealth fund is to sell off its $5 billion in coal holdings

The move won’t put an end to coal-burning for the companies concerned – including Drax, the owner of the UK’s biggest coal-fired power station. But campaigners argue that it sends a powerful message about how pumping ever more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is ethically unacceptable. It also makes financial sense to disinvest, they say, as the value of fossil fuel companies depends on reserves they may not be allowed to burn in the future.


Persuading investors to sell off coal stocks may be the easy part. Their value has nearly halved over the past five years, and with China making strenuous efforts to reduce its dependence on coal – and thus imports – they look set to fall further. Also, coal stocks account for just 5 per cent of fossil fuel stocks worldwide, which are worth an estimated $5 trillion.

There is little likelihood of Norway divesting from oil and gas. The country gets most of its own energy from renewable sources, but has grown rich by selling its oil and gas to others.

This article appeared in print under the headline “Norway snubs coal”