Distribution Network
Content
The Norwegian government pension fund has decided to disinvest from four Indian subsidiaries of a mining company over concerns about ‘systematic’ environmental and human rights violations.
The Government Pension Fund – Global has sold shares worth about 70million kroner ($13m, £6.2m) in Vedanta, India’s largest copper producer.
The fund’s ethics council decided there were ‘well-founded’ charges against the Vedanta subsidiaries. The accusations included the ‘forced relocation’ of indigenous tribes and indicated ‘a pattern in the company’s behaviour where such violations are an accepted and established part of its activities’.
Norway’s finance ministry said: ‘The fund runs an unacceptable risk of complicity in present and future severe environmental damage and systematic human rights violations by continuing to invest in the company.’
The subsidiaries that were investigated were Bharat Aluminum, Madras Aluminum, Sterlite Industries and Vedanta Alumina.
The company declined to comment for ‘legal reasons’. It says in the CSR section of its website: ‘The management of environmental, employee, health and safety and community issues in respect of our operations is central to the success of our business.’ In its last Sustainable Development Report, published in 2006, it says: ‘The Group fully appreciates the importance of minimising the disturbance to land and of rehabilitating disturbed land.’
The Government Pension Fund – Global has sold shares worth about 70million kroner ($13m, £6.2m) in Vedanta, India’s largest copper producer.
The fund’s ethics council decided there were ‘well-founded’ charges against the Vedanta subsidiaries. The accusations included the ‘forced relocation’ of indigenous tribes and indicated ‘a pattern in the company’s behaviour where such violations are an accepted and established part of its activities’.
Norway’s finance ministry said: ‘The fund runs an unacceptable risk of complicity in present and future severe environmental damage and systematic human rights violations by continuing to invest in the company.’
The subsidiaries that were investigated were Bharat Aluminum, Madras Aluminum, Sterlite Industries and Vedanta Alumina.
The company declined to comment for ‘legal reasons’. It says in the CSR section of its website: ‘The management of environmental, employee, health and safety and community issues in respect of our operations is central to the success of our business.’ In its last Sustainable Development Report, published in 2006, it says: ‘The Group fully appreciates the importance of minimising the disturbance to land and of rehabilitating disturbed land.’
Super Featured
No
Featured
No