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Norway’s $1.6tn sovereign wealth fund has sold out of its investments in Jardine Matheson and two related companies saying they were “contributing to or . . . responsible” for “severe” environmental damage.
The decision relates to a gold mine in Indonesia that environmental groups have long said threatens the habitat of the world’s most endangered great ape, the Tapanuli orangutan. The mine is run by a unit of Jardine, one of Hong Kong’s oldest colonial-era business empires.
The fund “has decided to exclude the companies Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd, Jardine Cycle & Carriage Ltd and PT Astra International Tbk due to unacceptable risk of the company contributing to or being responsible for severe environmental damage”, it said in a statement on Thursday.
Jardine Cycle & Carriage is Jardine’s holding company in south-east Asia, while PT Astra is an Indonesian conglomerate controlled by Jardine.
The Norwegian oil fund said its decision was based on a recommendation from its ethics council in 2023.
In a statement, Jardine Matheson said it was “disappointed” about the decision. It added that the activities at the Martabe gold mine were informed by a series of orangutan habitat surveys and advice provided by “a group of highly regarded independent scientists”.
The Norwegian fund was among the largest external investors in the conglomerate, with 3.3mn of shares, worth about $135mn, according to Bloomberg data based on filings from the end of 2022.
Its stakes in Astra and Jardine Cycle & Carriage were worth about $60mn in total, according to Bloomberg.
In January, Agincourt Resources — the Astra subsidiary operating the gold mine — said it was expanding operations despite concerns from scientists and environmental groups about the threat to the Tapanuli orangutan.
The Martabe gold mine is located in the only remaining habitat for the orangutan, which was identified as a separate species in 2017. Fewer than 800 of them remain in the wild.
Environmental group Mighty Earth, which has been tracking the Martabe project for years, told the Financial Times last month that the mine was located within a biodiversity area deemed critical for endangered animals and ecosystems.
Jardine said then that the expansion plan was limited to “low-impact exploration” and that if mining was found to be commercially viable, further activity would be subject to assessments from a panel of biodiversity experts advising the company.
Responding to the Norwegian fund’s decision to sell out of Jardine, Mighty Earth’s Amanda Hurowitz, senior director for south-east Asia, said: “We hope that the group seriously reconsiders its plans to expand the Martabe mine.”
Erik Meijaard, a conservation scientist focused on the region, said he hoped “other investment funds and banks will follow this lead”.
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