Norway blacklists 2 Malaysian logging companies for 'severe environmental damage' in Borneo

Norway's $760 billion pension fund has divested from two Malaysian forestry companies due to 'severe environmental damage', mongabay.com reported.

On Saturday, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) — the world's largest sovereign wealth fund — announced it has sold stakes in WTK Holdings Berhad and Ta Ann Holdings Berhad, Malaysian companies with extensive logging operations and timber plantations. The decision is based on recommendations from the fund's Council on Ethics, which conducted an investigation that found "unacceptable risk" of large-scale forest destruction, non-compliance with environmental laws, and poor forest management practices.

In the case of WTK, the Council found evidence of logging in breach of regulations outside concession boundaries, in buffer zones along river banks and roads, and on steep slopes. It added that destructive WTK logging operations inside primary forests in the ‘Heart of Borneo’ may have contributed to the log-jam disaster that made international headlines in 2010 when a 50 kilometer stretch of the Rajang river in Sarawak was blocked by logs.

"The Council finds that WTK does little to reduce the environmental damage associated with its forest operations," said a report from the Council.

For the complete article, see here