Human Rights
The fund recently dropped U.K. security firm G4S Plc, citing “systematic human rights violations” of migrant workers in the Middle East. G4S, which has been a signatory to the UN Global Compact since 2011, said last month it was making progress on strengthening recruitment and welfare standards.
Norway and the rest of the Nordic region are home to a large asset-management community that seems to have an insatiable appetite for ESG assets.
Baltzersen says investors need to remember that the asset class “isn’t risk free, even if it’s a so-called green investment.”
Issuance of green bonds has exploded in the Nordics, with Swedish airport operator Swedavia AB and shipping company Teekay Shuttle Tankers LLC among those tapping the market in recent months. (Both companies got the lowest grade in the green bond framework, according to the Norwegian Cicero Center for International Climate Research.)
Baltzersen, like others, says it’s imperative that ESG classifications are standardized, so that investors know what they’re buying.
“It’s difficult to determine what is green or not,” he said.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.