The independent expert group tasked earlier this year by Norway’s Finance Ministry with investigating climate risk relating to the country’s NOK12.2trn (€1.2trn) sovereign wealth fund (SWF) is to reveal its findings on Friday.

The ministry announced the date of its digital seminar on climate risk in the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), an event flagged by IPE 10 days ago, saying on Friday it would take place at the end of this week on 20 August at 10am CEST.

The ministry said the report prepared by the expert group it set up on 4 February this year to “look at the importance of financial climate risk and climate-related investment opportunities for a fund such as the GPFG under various conditions” would be presented at the seminar.

The leader of the expert group, Martin Skancke, who chairs the PRI board, will present the group’s assessments at the event.

Other members of the expert group are Karin Thorburn, a professor at NHH in Bergen; Kristin Halvorsen, director of climate research centre CICERO and Tone Bjørnstad Hanstad, investment professional at the investment firm Ferd.

The group’s secretary is Thomas Ekeli, former chief economist at Folketrygdfondet, which manages the domestically-invested part of the Norwegian SWF.

The seminar programme includes an introduction by Minister of Finance Jan Tore Sanner, as well as a speech on “Climate risk in the Government Pension Fund Global” by the deputy governor of the central bank Norges Bank Øystein Børsum.

Norges Bank manages the GPFG via its Norges Bank Investment Management division.

Other speakers at the event, which will be open for questions, are Katinka Holtsmark, assistant professor at the University of Oslo and Thina Saltvedt, senior adviser sustainable investment at Nordea.

State Secretary Kari Elisabeth Olrud Moen in the Finance Ministry told IPE earlier this month that the ministry was planning to present a comprehensive review of climate risk and climate-related investment opportunities for the GPFG in its white paper on the SWF next spring.

Looking for IPE’s latest magazine? Read the digital edition here.