Norway’s Storebrand announced it has become the latest signatory to an international healthy oceans financing initiative, days after the listed company – and pensions provider – made its way into a key green stockmarket index.

The Norwegian financial group said it had signed the United Nations-backed Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles, a guiding framework launched in 2018 for financing a sustainable ocean economy.

Storebrand – one of Norway’s main occupational and personal pension providers – said the framework aimed to accelerate the transition towards sustainable use of the ocean and its resources by developing practical actions for insurers, lenders and investors to undertake.

Jan Erik Saugestad, chief executive officer of Storebrand’s asset management business, said: “As investors we have a crucial role to play in financing the transition to a sustainable blue economy and to rebuild ocean prosperity.”

He said major industries such as shipping, fishing, aquaculture, and coastal tourism all depended on healthy oceans, which were not only one of the main natural carbon sinks, but were also home to 80% of earth’s biodiversity.

Storebrand said biodiversity was a key priority in the new climate policy for investments it launched earlier this year.

On Saturday, Storebrand announced its stock was being included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), which it said placed the company in the top 10% of sustainable companies globally.

Odd Arild Grefstad, Storebrand’s group CEO, said the firm’s addition to the index was “an important recognition of our long term, systematic work on sustainability and a great motivation to continuously improve and excel.”

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