What Happened: Norway's Finance Ministry has proposed new rules that would require the country's sovereign wealth fund to sell its shares in oil and gas exploration and production companies, Argus Media reported March 8. The proposal, however, would only explicitly target corporations according to FTSE Russell's definition of exploration and production companies, meaning it would not affect integrated firms.
Why It Matters: The proposal stems from an effort by Norway's government to reduce investments in the oil and gas sector over climate change concerns.
Background: For some time, the Norwegian government has been debating the idea of divesting its sovereign wealth fund from oil and gas even though energy stocks comprised roughly 5.9 percent of the fund's equity investments at the end of 2018. According to Oslo, the proposal would affect approximately 134 stocks, totaling around $7.9 billion in investments.
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