The Norwegian Council on Ethics has led the way in recent years in recommending exclusion of many abusive companies from the portfolio of Norway's Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) - the world's largest such pension fund.

Its annual report for 2014, just published, makes for an interesting and important read.

The mining companies, previously investigated by the Council and which remain excluded from the portfolio are:

• Barrick Gold
• Freeport McMoran
• MMC Norilsk Nickel
• Potash Corp of Sasketchewan
• Rio Tinto Ltd
• Rio Tinto plc
• Sesa Sterlite
• Vedanta
• Volcan Compania Minera
• Zijin Mining

Thus, out in the cold are four British companies, two Canadian, one Russian, one Chinese, one from the USA, and one from Peru.

During the past year the Council on Ethics investigated three other mining companies listed in Canada, Britain and the United States, and into an Indian  power project in Bangladesh.

Two mining companies were excluded from the GPFS last year: Toronto-listed Tahoe Resources, active in Guatemala, and Innophos of the USA, benefitting from the Moroccan occupation of Weterm Sahara. See: Which mining companies are exploiting Western Sahara?

London-listed Randgold Resources is still "under observation" for human rights violations during the removal of some 15,000 villagers from the Orientale region of DR Congo.

But the Council notes that "the company had carried out the relocation in accordance with internationally recognised principle and complaints about the mining operations had been handled satisfactorily"

Indian state-owned NTPC is strongly attacked for proposing to site a coal-fired power plant near the protected Sunderbans wetlands of Bangladesh.

However, no decision has yet been reached by GPFG as to whether to eject that company from the portfolio.

To read  the Council on Ethics Report go to:

http://etikkradet.no/files/2015/01/Council-on-Ethics-2014-Annual-Report.pdf