Decisions on observation and exclusion

Norges Bank’s Executive Board has decided to exclude the companies Aurora Cannabis Inc, Canopy Growth Corp, Cronos Group Inc, and Tilray Brands Inc on the basis of “the fund not being invested in companies which themselves or through entities they control: (…) c. “produce cannabis for drug purposes”, ref. the product-based criteria in section 3 (1) (c) of the Guidelines for Observation and Exclusion from the Government Pension Fund Global. Under section 2 of the guidelines, recommendations and decisions under section 3 can also “apply to companies that are only in the benchmark index or that will be included in the benchmark index”. The four companies are not in the fund’s portfolio, but in the benchmark index. The decision is based on recommendations from the Council on Ethics of 30 March 2022 and 3 May 2022 respectively.

The Executive Board has also decided to exclude the companies Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S, Eastern CO SAE, and Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna Tbk PT on the basis of “the fund not being invested in companies which themselves or through entities they control: (…) b. “produce tobacco or tobacco products”, ref. the product-based criteria in section 3 (1) (b) of the Guidelines for Observation and Exclusion from the Government Pension Fund Global. Under section 2 of the guidelines, recommendations and decisions under section 3 can also “apply to companies that are only in the benchmark index or that will be included in the benchmark index”. Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S, Eastern CO SAE, and Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna Tbk PT are not in the fund’s portfolio, but in the benchmark index. The decision is based on recommendations from the Council on Ethics of 24 February 2022 and 30 March 2022 respectively.

Furthermore, the Executive Board has decided to exclude the companies NHPC Ltd and Young Poong Corp due to unacceptable risk that the companies contribute to severe environmental damage, ref. the conduct-based criteria in section 4 (1) (e) of the Guidelines for Observation and Exclusion from the Government Pension Fund Global. The decision is based on recommendations from the Council on Ethics of 24 February 2022 and 1 March 2022 respectively.

The Executive Board has not conducted an independent assessment of all aspects of the recommendations, but is satisfied that the observation and exclusion criteria have been fulfilled. Before deciding to exclude a company, Norges Bank shall consider whether the use of other measures, including the exercise of ownership rights, may be better suited. The Executive Board concludes that it is not appropriate to use other measures in these cases.

The Council on Ethics’ recommendations:

Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna Tbk PT
Eastern Co SAE
Tilray Brands Inc
Cronos Group Inc
Aurora Cannabis Inc
Canopy Growth Corp
Young Poong Corp
Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S
NHPC Ltd

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