As the head of Norway’s $1.8 trillion sovereign wealth fund, Nicolai Tangen has expressed strong disagreement with the Trump administration’s climate policy, warning that it poses a significant financial risk and could have devastating consequences for the planet.
CEO Warns Against Climate Policy Rollback
Nicolai Tangen, CEO of the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, Norges Bank Investment Management, has expressed disagreement with the Trump administration’s climate policy.
Climate change is not only having a devastating impact on the planet and its ecosystems but also creating new financial challenges. Food inflation, for example, is now linked to climate in a different way. Tangen pointed out that climate change affects areas such as immigration, conflicts, and even productivity. He noted that worse harvests are being seen, which in turn affect prices of commodities like olive oil, coffee, and cocoa.
As the head of Norges Bank Investment Management, Tangen is responsible for managing Norway’s $1.8 trillion sovereign wealth fund. The organization invests in around 9,000 companies worldwide, making up about 1.6 percent of all publicly traded companies. Tangen emphasized that climate change poses a significant financial risk and that efforts to combat it should not be rolled back.
The Trump administration has recently withdrawn the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement and scaled back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs across government agencies. Tangen described these actions as “negative in the long term.”
Contrarian Investing Advice
In a separate interview with Bloomberg, Tangen advised investors to take a contrarian approach by buying stocks that are “out of fashion” and selling U.S. tech stocks. He suggested investing in China and reducing holdings in companies like Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, and Nvidia. This approach is based on the idea that the best investment strategy is often the opposite of what everyone else is doing.
However, Tangen also acknowledged that contrarian behavior comes with risks, including periods where investors may underperform and face criticism for their decisions. He emphasized the importance of a diversified and long-term approach to investing.
