Sweden's Biggest Pension Fund Dumps 6 Energy Companies Out Of Line With Paris Accord
Sweden's largest national pension fund, AP7, has sold its investments in six companies that it says violate the Paris climate agreement, a decision environmentalists believe is the first of its kind.
AP7, which provides pensions to 3.5 million Swedes, said on Thursday it had sold out of ExxonMobil (XOM.N), Gazprom (GAZP.MM), TransCanada Corp (TRP.TO), Westar (WR.N), Entergy (ETR.N) and Southern Corp, and would no longer invest in companies that operate in breach of the Paris climate accord.
"Since the last screening in December 2016, the Paris agreement to the U.N. Climate Convention is one of the norms we include in our analysis," the company said in a statement. AP7 said ExxonMobil, Westar, Southern Corp and Entergy had fought against introducing climate legislation in the United States. It also criticized Gazprom for looking for oil in the Russian Arctic and TransCanada for building large-scale pipelines in North America.
ExxonMobil said that it "respectfully disagrees with the decision of AP7, which has not communicated to us its evaluation process. "We have been vocal in our support of the Paris climate agreement, which we believe is an effective global framework for mitigating the risk of climate change," the company said in an emailed statement.
EDIT
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-investment-sweden-idUSKBN1962CC
