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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — One of the world’s largest investment funds is dumping its shares in Duke Energy Corp. because it sees too much risk in what it called the largest U.S. electric company’s history of environmental damage.
The decision to bar investments in Charlotte, North Carolina-based Duke Energy was announced Wednesday by the arm of Norway’s central bank that manages the pension fund created by the Scandinavian country’s oil wealth.
Norges Bank said it is excluding investments in Duke Energy and three operating subsidiaries.
The fund’s ethics advisory council cited the U.S. utility’s years of environmentally harmful discharges from pits at North Carolina coal-burning power plants storing waste byproducts.
Duke Energy says it’s disappointed and is cleaning up the pits.
The fund started 2016 with about 4.7 million shares of Duke Energy stock.