The Wednesday Debate: The Government Pension Fund - ethics or money?

The Government Pension Fund is the safety net for Norwegian welfare once the oil adventure is one day at an end. The fund invests in over 9000 corporations all over the world, and today it has the dazeling value of 7 000 000 000 NOK. In other words the Govenrment Pension Fund is a great value to us here at home, but what about for the rest of the world? What responsibilty does really the worlds bigges governmental investment fund have when it comes to human rights and environment, and how are we managing this responsibilty today? Should the fund be used to create a positive developement in the world, are should it first and foremost be a piggy back for the Norwegian people? Is it possible to combine ethics and money?

The panel consist of Torstein Tvedt Solberg, Arild Hermstad and Eva Maria Fjellheim. Tvedt Solberg is a member of the Governments financial comitee, and is the member from the Norwegian Labour Party (AP) with responsibilty to supervise the Pension Fund. Hermstad is the leader of ‘Framtiden i våre hender’, and works with fossile free investments and a more environmently friendy pension fund, amongst other things. Fjellhaim is SAIH’s program advisor for Colombia and Nicaragua and is the writer of the report ‘Take first, ask later’ from 2014, which concerns the Government Pension Fund Global’s investments in mining in Latin America.

Ingerid Salvesen is the evenings moderator. She’s a journalist, and runs the podcast ‘Du verden!’.

This Wednesday debate is presentet to you by the Student Society and SAIH Trondheim, in cooperation with Spire Trondheim and Framtiden i våre hender Trondheim-students.

This debate will be held in Norwegian.