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Norway oil fund to make green investments

NTB/The Local
NTB/The Local - [email protected]
Norway oil fund to make green investments
Norway's oldest windfarm, Smøla, developed by Statkraft in 2002. Photo: Statkraft

Norway’s oil fund has asked to shift part of its vast $830bn holdings into green infrastructure projects such as wind turbines and solar energy parks in the wake of last week’s climate deal in Paris.

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Yngve Slyngstad, manager of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, made the request in a letter to Norway’s Ministry of Finance, published in Norway’s Dagens Næringsliv business newspaper on Tuesday. 
 
“The bank believes it will be possible to carry out investments in infrastructure for renewable energy with the same profitability requirements as other investments,” wrote Slyngstad and Jon Nicolaisen, the deputy governor of Norges Bank, which manages the fund. 
 
Slyngstad was in Paris during the talks leading up to the historical deal between all of the world's 196 countries. 
 
“If we get a more sustainable world economy, it is obviously much more profitable for us in the long term,” he told DN. “The closer we get to an agreement that reduces the risk, the better.” 
 
Slyngstad's comments come after Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg on Sunday said the country would continue with plans for further offshore oil and gas exploration despite calls from environmentalists for the country to scrap such plans in the wake of the Paris climate deal.

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