Public ownership and morality : proposed investment guidelines of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund : a Christian ethical perspective

[摘要] The Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund (the Fund), established in 1996 and basedon income from petrochemical natural resources, is today one of the largest ownersof investment assets in the world. The Fund as owner in a large number ofcompanies is frequently involved in activities that can be criticized as unethical orviolating human rights and international law. The Fund established ethical guidelinesand an ethical board in 2004 (Guidelines), to monitor the investment activity from anethical perspective, and advise the Funds managers to withdraw from investments ifthe ethical guidelines were breached. The ethical Guidelines (2014) are unclear intheir philosophical and moral foundations, and the following thesis is an elaborationon possible ethical principles to be utilized by the Fund, seen from a Christian-ethicalperspective. Following a white paper from the ministry of Finance to the Parliament(Report 19, 2013), the question of the ethics of the Funds investment practice iscurrently debated among the Norwegian political parties and non-politicalorganizations with newfound actuality. In the following investigation it will beelaborated what are acceptable Christian-ethical norms pertaining to central aspectsrelevant for investment activity and ownership exertion, how these norms connect tohistorical and contemporary philosophies, and what would be a prudent norm set toadhere to in the Funds extant and future investment activity. The Christian-ethicalprinciples developed will be under the Reformed paradigm, and examples of howthese will connect to investment decisions will be demonstrated. A new investmentsystem will be introduced where the focus is on constructive societal participationthrough capital investment, as opposed to the current Guidelines that merely expresswhat is viewed as unethical and thus should be avoided. This new investment systemis termed Reoriented Investment Protocol (RIP) to indicate the main underlying ethosand its practical applicability. A recommendation to the Fund will be renderedpertaining to how RIP can be practiced and put into operation.

[发布机构] North-West University