Proposals to shake up Norway's oil fund Norway's $800bn oil fund would undergo its biggest organisational change in a decade under proposals from a government-appointed strategy council that could make it a more active ethical investor. The council, which advises Norway's finance ministry, recommended that decisions on whether the world's largest sovereign wealth fund should exclude companies or entire industries should be taken by the country's central bank, a unit of which already manages the oil fund. The fund is excluded from owning 60 companies on ethical grounds - more than nearly any other fund manager in the world - and these include EADS, Boeing, British American Tobacco, Rio Tinto, Walmart and Vedanta. On average the oil fund owns 1.25 per cent of every listed company in the world with its biggest holdings including Nestlé, Royal Dutch Shell and Novartis. The Norwegian finance ministry takes the final decision on whether to exclude whole industries - such as tobacco companies or nuclear weapon producers - or individual businesses that break human rights or environmental standards. It does so on the advice of a council of ethics, which was set up in 2004 and is made up mostly of Norwegian professors. But there is considerable criticism of the system and frustration with how long it takes to decide whether to exclude companies. For instance, the finance ministry took 18 months to overrule the council of ethics" original decision to exclude Petrochina in 2010. Elroy Dimson, chairman of the strategy council, said making the central bank responsible for exclusion decisions would be more efficient and allow the oil fund to keep its position at the "forefront" of responsible investing. "Applying a more unified and holistic approach will give the fund a more powerful and influential responsible investment strategy," his report said, by allowing it to engage with companies better. But the proposal was met with concern by some non-governmental organisations, who lobby the ethics council on which companies it should exclude and who worry that the central bank will be less accessible. We as NGOs are losing out on the complaint mechanism we have. You are risking losing some accountability," said Svend Søyland of Bellona, an environmental pressure group. The debate in Norway is particularly intense over whether to exclude coal producers from the fund after the opposition Labour party proposed the idea. Some environmental groups and Norwegian fund managers have suggested that the fund - set up to invest Norway's petroleum revenues for future generations - be barred from investing in fossil fuel companies such as oil and gas groups. Siv Jensen, the new centre-right finance minister, said she would decide both on whether to endorse the strategy council's proposal and exclude coal producers in the coming months ahead of the annual review of the fund in the spring. The oil fund itself has been taking a more active approach to ownership and recently sold out of 23 palm oil companies because of environmental concerns.