Olso to divest from fossil fuels and halve emissions by 2020

Oslo’s newly elected city council announced it will divest its £7 million pension fund from coal, oil and gas companies.

The left-leaning coalition made up of the Labour Party, the Greens and the Socialist Left, also aims to halve greenhouse gas emissions in the city by 2020.

"We are very happy to announce that Oslo will take responsibility for the climate, both through our own policies and our investments," said Lan Marie Nguyen Berg, lead negotiator for the Green Party in Oslo, in a statement.

"Divestment sends a strong message to the world prior to the Climate Change Conference in Paris that we need a strong agreement that will ensure that we avoid dangerous global warming."

The council also announced it will not increase road capacity in the capital, but build 60 kilometres of cycle lanes, invest in public transport and start to edge out cars in the city centre.

By 2019, the coalition aims to have made central Oslo a car-free zone, with tariffs operating in other areas and a subsidy to encourage people to buy electric bicycles.

The Norwegian Parliament announced in June that it would sell off over $8bn of coal-related investments from its $900bn sovereign wealth fund.

Prime minister Erna Solberg has recently called on the world to set a global price on carbon and phase out fossil fuel subsidies, arguing that Norway's 26 year old carbon tax had played a crucial part in driving the development of low carbon technologies.

Forty-five cities around the world including San Francisco and Seattle in the US and Oxford in the UK have taken similar action, pledging to fully divest their funds from coal, oil and gas companies, but Oslo is the first capital city in the world to do so.

Divestment campaign Fossil Free announced last month that 450 institutions with assets worth a total of $2.6tr have pledged to pull out all investments they have in fossil fuels.

"Oslo sets an example for cities around the world and shows investors like the Norwegian pension fund that if you have committed to divest from coal, it's time to take the jump to divest from all fossil fuels now," Nicolò Wojewoda, Europe team leader for campaign group 350.org, has said.

"If you want to see climate action, you can't continue investing in the coal, oil and gas companies that are ruining our climate."