Patrick has a great post up on ethical investing, focusing on the way the Norwegian government invests its oil revenues, and addressing some of the criticisms aimed at it for its attempts at investment strategies that uphold certain principles.
Can't agree with Patrick's love of Norway's climate though. Seriously, it needs to be moved at least 20-30° south before it becomes a totally ideal place to live. Mmmm... equatoriffic...
4 comments:
I love Norway! If it moved South, it'd be... Central Europe. And why be there, when you can be in Scandinavia?
hi sarah, its a great principle and one that i would love to see be applied in Aus. it would require that profits from natural resources would be accumulated by the state, not private interests.
but no investment is unproblematic. the norwegian state's main revenue is from north sea oil and gas. so the investments they make are partly in oil and gas. i would point out that norway has a huge claim on antarctica. if it hasn't have been for aus and france, antarctica would already be open for mining. there is currently a moratorium, but that comes up for assessment, um, sometime (excuse vagueness!)
while on on antarctica, lets not forget that NO claims on antarctica have ever been ratified by the USA. ie, they don't recognise them. where do you think the yanks are headed when mid east oil supplies dry up? and the norwegians will be there with the ethical investments.
ok, maybe i am catastrophising again...
:)
Any time the moratorium on mining comes up, Australia will be all for digging into it so long as they can be assured of getting their 'fair share' (i.e. a huge proportion of everything that's there). The only thing our government is worried about re the antarctic wilderness is that the big guys are going to provide some hefty competition for its resources.
that was said at the time- that Aus and Fr were only "against" mining it to save it up for later when it would be more $. Like most policies, it will depend on public opinion, the media, the culture... better hope for some mass-scale re-evaluations of what's happening.
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