Swedish government pension fund engaged with Glencore

The Council on Ethics of the Swedish government pension fund explains in its latest annual report for 2017 that it had engaged in a dialogue with Glencore regarding Western Sahara – and that this dialogue now is finished. 
 

Published 06 July 2018

Earlier this year, it was known that the Swiss oil multinational Glencore had departed Western Sahara after several years of exploration work offshore the territory. Western Sahara Resource Watch wrote that several investors had successfully engaged with the firm. 

The Swedish government pension fund now appears to be one of these. 

On 18 April 2018, the Council on Ethics of the Swedish national pension funds released its Annual Report for the year of 2017

"The dialogue with Glencore regarding its activities in Western Sahara was initiated in 2015 and has now ended", the report reads. 

"Exploration of natural resources in Western Sahara has long been seen as a controversial issue and in violation of public international law in the light of a territorial dispute in the area".

Also the Swedish investor IPM writes in its 2017 engagement report, published in June 2018, that it had been in talks wth Glencore. "During the year, Glencore also confirmed that it had withdrawn from Western Sahara and no longer has any oil exploration licences in the area", IPM wrote. It states that the goal of the Western Sahara engagement was that "Glencore should overall strengthen the company-wide approach to issues such as human rights, stakeholder engagement and due diligence, to be applied to future activities across all its operations, especially with regards to high risk locations".



 

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