After the Ukraine war caused natural gas prices to rise sharply, Norway collected windfall profits totaling an estimated $113 billion. Refusing to use these gains to support Ukraine’s defense and reconstruction is not only morally wrong; it also reflects a myopic perspective that Norway’s government should abandon.

The Norwegian finance ministry recently revealed just how much the country has benefited from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, estimating its windfall natural-gas revenues for 2022-23 to be around $111 billion. Yet rather than transferring these gains to those on the front line, the government is hoarding them.

Former World Bank Chief Economists Justin Yifu Lin, Alan Gelb and I argue that the June 2023 Paris Development Finance Summit missed a crucial element: To mobilise private capital at a scale significant to climate change, multilateral development banks need to find ways to work much more closely with pension funds and other institutional investors Read more about What the Paris Development Finance Summit Missed. Project Syndicate[…]

Jessica Lovering and I argue that to accelerate the energy transition and counter Russia’s influence in emerging countries, development banks must start financing nuclear energy.

Marcin Kacperczyk and I argue that the fund’s climate-related mandate leaves responsibility for the green transition with portfolio companies. The Norwegian government and parliament (Storting) need to set a portfolio level net zero target for the fund, as well as for the benchmark index.

This is henceforth the reference work on strategic investments funds! I started working out the concept for this book in November 2015, at my kitchen table on weekends, since there was initially no funding for it. Great to see it finally published! Check it out!   

Jan Rieländer, Rüya Perincek and I argue that biofuels and high fertiliser prices must not be allowed to lead to a hunger catastrophe.  

Government white paper places responsibility for net zero transition with portfolio companies

Christiana Figueres, Knut Anton Mork, and I argue that Norway should lead a global coalition of sovereign funds towards Net Zero commitments, at COP26.

With Günther Thallinger: Much of the global financial sector is mobilizing behind mid-century net-zero emissions targets, recognizing the opportunities that will come with the transition to a low-carbon economy. The longer that sovereign funds remain on the sidelines, the more they and their countries stand to lose.