The Norwegian Government is appointing a new expert group to examine how climate change, climate policy and the green transition may affect the country’s sovereign wealth fund.

The group will assess the importance of financial climate risk and climate-related investment opportunities for the $1 trillion (£0.72tn) Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) under different scenarios.

The Ministry of Finance is concerned how climate change and policies could affect the management, risk and returns of the Fund, therefore, a report from the expert group will provide alternative approaches to addressing these issues and discuss whether new, climate-related knowledge is important to underpin the Fund’s investment strategy.

The group will be headed by Martin Skancke, Chairman of the Board of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), member of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) and board member of Storebrand.

Other members of the expert group will be Kristin Halvorsen, Executive Director of climate research centre CICERO, Tone Bjørnstad Hanstad, Investment Professional at investment firm Ferd and Karin S. Thorburn, Professor at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH).

Organisations and individuals can also provide input to the group’s work until 31st March 2021.

Finance Minister Jan Tore Sanner said: “We need more knowledge on how the transition towards a low emission economy could affect the pension fund’s exposure to climate risk and climate-related investment opportunities.

“This expert group will provide important insights into these matters.”

A report is expected to be submitted by August 2021.