Drax Group has welcomed the decision by one of the world鈥檚 largest funds to lift a ban on investments following its green transformation.
Norges Bank Investment Management controls long-term use of revenues from Norway鈥檚 oil and gas interests in the North Sea, with the government conscious the oil would one day run out.
Government Pension Fund Global - as the oil fund is officially known - invests overseas to ensure the Scandinavian country鈥檚 future economy.
It has nearly 10,000 investments, including Apple, Nestle, Microsoft and Samsung, averaging 1.4 per cent of all the world鈥檚 listed companies.
The fund had previously excluded Drax from investment in 2016, following a decision by the Norwegian parliament to sell out of companies in which more than 30 per cent of revenues or activities are derived from coal.
Since then the switch to biomass has been described as Europe鈥檚 largest decarbonisation project, while it is now pressing ahead with plans to become carbon negative by 2030, taking large emitters on the Humber with it through a huge carbon capture use and storage plan.
Drax Group chief executive Will Gardiner said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 great news that the Norwegian oil fund has recognised the pioneering transformation at Drax. Converting Drax from coal to sustainable biomass has reduced emissions at Drax by over 80 per cent since 2013, making us the largest renewable power generator in the 海角视频 and the biggest decarbonisation project in Europe.
鈥淣ow we鈥檙e taking it a step further with our world-leading ambition to be carbon negative by 2030, using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage technology. This would anchor a new zero carbon industrial cluster in the Humber region, protecting thousands of jobs and creating new opportunities for clean growth in the north and throughout the 海角视频.鈥
Drax supplies 12 per cent of the 海角视频鈥檚 renewable electricity, with hydrogen production now also proposed to provide further low carbon fuel to multiple industries.
