Norway’s Wealth Fund Drops Fossil Fuel Companies

In the past year, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has dropped 73 companies due to the profit risk associated with their social and environmental policies, reported AFP via the Guardian.

The nation’s fund, known as the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFP), divested from 16 companies involved in coal-fired power generation, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, a global organization that studies sovereign wealth funds and other forms of public investment.

Norway’s fund is worth about $794 billion and largely bankrolled by the country’s oil and gas revenues, which include drilling operations in the North Sea and the Arctic.

According to the Guardian article, the fund has divested from 187 companies in the past four years for financial reasons, which factor in environmental and social activities that could have an impact on profit.

January Arctic Sea Ice Hits New Low

The expanse of the Arctic Ocean covered in sea ice in January was the smallest on record since satellites began recording its extent in 1979, reported the Arctic Journal.

The monthly average January sea ice extent was 110,000 square kilometers (42,500 square miles) less than the previous record low in January 2011, according to the Colorado-based National Snow and Ice Data Center. Warm air temperatures and strong atmospheric patterns in the region are to blame.

The rate of winter sea ice loss has been especially high in the North Atlantic sector of the Arctic since the late 1990s.

Arctic sea ice extent continues to expand throughout the winter, usually hitting its peak area in March. Last year, it appeared to reach its height in late February, making it one of the smallest maximum extents and one of the earliest, according to NASA.

Roads Disrupt Caribou Migrations

Caribou in northwestern Alaska are going out of their way to avoid crossing an 85-kilometer (53-mile) long gravel road that leads to the Red Dog Mine, reported the Alaska Dispatch News. Instead, they take a long route around the road during their fall migration, adding 300 kilometers (186 miles) to their route.

The study, which was published in the journal Biological Conservation, tracked 216 caribou from the Western Arctic and Teshekpuk herds over 10 years using satellite collars. It found that about a quarter of the caribou steered clear of the road, which is used to truck out ore from the mine. Most of those caribou caught up to the rest of the herd and arrived at the wintering grounds at the same time.

The study raises questions about the possible impacts of a proposed industrial road that would lead to the Ambler mining district, which would be 321 kilometers (200 miles) long and cut through the territory used by the Western Arctic caribou herd, the article said.

Other studies have also pointed to roads as a significant factor in the decline of caribou populations in Canada.

Further Reading

• The Arctic Journal: Renewed Hope
• CNN: By Sea into a Frozen, Fragile World
• The Economist: I’ll See You in Court
• The Arctic Institute: Suez Canal Will Remain Preferred Shipping Route

Top image: A new study finds that caribou will go out of their way to avoid crossing an industrial road in northwestern Alaska. (Flickr/Javier Rodriguez, CC BY-SA 2.0)