Norway’s KLP excludes three new companies over tobacco and environmental damage

KLP, the Norwegian institutional investor, has excluded three new companies from its investment universe over tobacco production and environmental damage after a semi-annual review.
They are Croatian tobacco firm Adris Grupa, China’s Shanghai Industrial Holdings (tobacco) and Malaysia’s Lingui Development. Lingui is blacklisted as it is associated with illegal logging. SIH and Lingui are already excluded by the Norwegian Government Pension Fund.
KLP also said that it has removed Oslo-listed oil company DNO International ASA from its watch list. DNO had been under observation since June 2010 because the Kurdish state authorities in Iraq bought and sold shares in it.
KLP says it has been in dialogue with DNO and says the company is now working on social responsibility and anti-corruption. In spring 2011, KLP noted, DNObecame a supporter of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
“As a result of the work and the engagement the company has displayed in relation to grabbing the challenges and issues, DNO International has been removed from KLP’s observation list”, said Jeanett Bergan, Head of Responsible Investments at KLP Kapitalforvaltning.
KLP has now excluded 63 companies. Fifteen companies are out due to human rights breaches, three as a result of breaching workers’ rights, and 11 as a result of serious environmental offences. Nineteen companies are blacklisted because of arms production, and 17 on account of tobacco production.
KLP, Kommunal Landspensjonskasse, is one of Norway’s largest life insurers and has total assets of NOK288bn. Its latest ethical investing report (in Norwegian) in available here