SRI News

Company updates

BP is yet again investable for the fund after having completed 97 per cent (with full completion expected in early 2016) of the recommendation tasks in the incident report created after the Macondo oil spill. The recommendations include improving the management of health, safety and environment company-wide and changes to key staff including replacing both the head of exploration and company CEO. 

Dongfeng Motors have also been re-included in the investment universe. After the reforms of the Burmese regime and EU and US lifting most trading restrictions against the country, the reason to exclude Dongfeng is no longer present.

In January, DNB’s SRI team visited Norsk Hydro’s aluminum plant in Karmøy, Norway. Focus of the meeting was primarily energy efficiency, although health & safety was also on the agenda. Aluminum production is a very energy intense process, but due to hydroelectric power and Norsk Hydro’s efficient production methods the Karmøy plant is the most energy efficient aluminum plant in the world. Hydro is aiming to “turn their leading CSR position into a competitive advantage” and to be carbon neutral in 2020. To achieve this they look to improve efficiency in all parts of the aluminum life-cycle.

We also met with Norwegian chemical company Yara to discuss compliance and anti-corruption work. In January 2015, the largest corruption trial in Norway’s history began. The case targets high-level executives in Yara being accused of bribery in Libya, India and many other countries. The company itself paid its way out of a court case by accepting fines totalling around NOK 300 million in 2014. Yara has done much to rectify the situation from 2004 to 2008 when the company’s anti-corruption measures were inadequate. Today the work on anti-corruption and ethics awareness meets the highest standards.

In February, Finnish forestry company StoraEnso presented a major oversight of human rights risks throughout the company and its supply chain. The company has earlier been caught out with substandard policies and practices in China, Pakistan and Laos. The risk assessment will be followed by an ambitious action plan and the most acute challenges will be addressed already before summer. With this risk assessment, a new CEO and continued pressure from the investment community we are confident that StoraEnso will improve significantly going forward. StoraEnso was removed from the DNB exclusion list following this presentation.

The global equity fund DNB Global Hållbar (DNB Global Sustainability) was launched in Norway in January, having been introduced to in the Swedish market in April 2014. DNB Global Hållbar is a fossil free fund with a clear focus on sustainability related issues such as climate change, resource scarcity, poverty and migration. The fund avoids companies that explore oil, coal and gas and utilities with coal fired power plants. We believe that companies that can best adapt to a more sustainable, low-carbon world will also be best equipped to be profitable, both in the short and the long term.