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Fund invested in close to 9,000 companies globally

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Some US investors have opposed diversity and climate

discussions

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Fund to maintain dialogue with tech firms on AI,

misinformation

By Gwladys Fouche

OSLO, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Norway's wealth fund will

continue to raise environmental, social and corporate governance

(ESG) issues with the companies it is invested in, including

with Big Tech, despite a backlash against ESG, a top fund

official said on Thursday.

In recent months, U.S. conservative activists have spoken

out against discussing issues such as diversity and climate

change in corporate boardrooms.

That move has intensified with the election of U.S.

President Donald Trump, who has made rolling back federal

policies on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) a priority of

his first weeks in the White House.

"We are in the middle of an ESG backlash: it impacts the

market, it impacts companies, it impacts investors," Carine

Smith Ihenacho, the $1.8 trillion fund's Chief Governance and

Compliance Officer, told a press conference.

"But for us, ESG ... has always been about financial

materiality, about long-term value creation.

"That's the dialogue we have with the companies, that's the

dialogue we will continue to have with ... companies."

This included the fund's dialogue with large tech firms, she

later told Reuters.

"We had dialogues on issues around misinformation, about the

use of their products, about responsible use of AI, and I

believe they still would like to have a good relationship with

their investors," she said in an interview.

The fund is invested in close to 9,000 companies globally.

Nine out of the 10 largest equity holdings in the fund's

portfolio are tech companies, including Apple ( AAPL ),

Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Nvidia ( NVDA ).

Tech stocks accounted for 19% of the fund's total

investments at the end of 2024, according to fund data.

While the fund was a minority shareholder in large tech

companies, and thus had to approach its relations with them with

"some humility", it had good access and overall a good dialogue

with them, she said.

"We have had a particular dialogue, and we will continue to

have a dialogue, around children and safety online. We will

continue to have that (discussion) with big tech companies," she

said.