Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Sweden’s Central Bank is selling off holdings in Australian and Canadian bonds, because the financial stability of Australia and Canada is at risk if the world agrees to stronger action on climate change.
Sweden sells off Canada, Australia bonds over climate change
Kelsey Johnson
Nov 14, 2019 — 12.14pmOttawa | Sweden’s central bank said on Thursday (AEDT) it had sold off bonds from the oil-rich Canadian province of Alberta and parts of Australia because it felt that greenhouse gas emissions in both countries were too high.
Riksbank Deputy Governor Martin Floden said the bank would no longer invest in assets from issuers with a large climate footprint, even if the yields were high.
“Australia and Canada are countries that are not known for good climate work. Greenhouse gas emissions per capita are among the highest in the world,” he said in a speech at Orebro University in Sweden.
“As a result of the new investment policy, we sold our holdings of bonds issued by Alberta in the spring. For the same reason, we have recently sold our holdings in bonds issued by the Australian states of Queensland and Western Australia.”
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Analysts say the valuations of fossil fuel companies could be at risk if governments move to spur stronger action.
This could pose more problems for Alberta, which is already hurting from five years of low crude prices and pipeline constraints. A number of major firms have sold their Canadian assets or scaled back investments.
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Read more: https://www.afr.com/world/europe/sweden-sells-off-canada-australia-bonds-over-climate-change-20191114-p53akq
It is intriguing that the Swedish Central Bank has not included the USA, China and India on its list of climate sinners.
Perhaps the Swedish Central Bank’s perception of climate risk only applies to resource rich countries led by politicians who try to play both sides of the climate game.
Enjoy life with the bear next door.
WSJ
One of Russia’s biggest helicopters landed on a tiny island between Finland and Estonia this summer and disgorged materials and engineers who quickly threw up a helicopter base for the Russian military.
The construction on Gogland, in the Gulf of Finland, adds a new military launchpad in a region that could be front line in any conflict between Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Both sides have built up their forces there in recent years, with tensions at their highest since the end of the Cold War.
Sitting between a NATO country and a Nordic ally, the base doesn’t add much military might. But its construction appears to be in line with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to keep his neighbors on edge.
Well they took ‘Suursaari’ in WWII by force, so we only expect them to continue being hostile.
Russia is no friend to its neighbours.
I certainly wouldn’t put any money in the Swedish bank or support them. They aren’t a bank, they are a political party. Any ROI is strictly fake promises.
Ohhh Noooo! What ever will they do with all that sweet viking money?
There is no doubts this is a smart move there is no doubts that countries where green zealots control the agenda are disasters waiting to happen. In Canada this is obvious and in Australia the government is looking pretty shaky in its ability to withstand the constant attacks from the greenies. Unfortunately whilst our Conservative party is not as bad as the opposition action on climate change is a bipartisan approach.
Global investors who sell Shares or bonds in UK, Canada, much of Europe, Canada and Australia and holds on to China , US and India will do well. There is a strong correlation between action on climate change and deteriorating economies.
And somebody bought them. If I had any Swedish bonds I’d sell them on the grounds that children are running their economy.
‘It is intriguing that the Swedish Central Bank has not included the USA, China and India on its list of climate sinners …’.
What about the neighbour and close relative Norway?
The Norway has a veritable fossil-fuelled economy.
Forget climate change, Sweden has a more immediate (self-inflicted) problem:
https://www.steynonline.com/9818/internal-contradictions-of-the-multicultural
Did they sell them at a premium? I had to ask since the golden rule of green virtue signaling is to not mention price.
“the bank would no longer invest in assets from issuers with a large climate footprint, even if the yields were high.”
This sentence is the real giveaway. This is not about making decisions based on economics and risk, but rather about ideology. Now that we know their central bank has lost the plot, the real message here is for all countries to sell Swedish bonds and completely divest from investments in that country.
That is pretty much what this has opened up the action is targetted and publicized so it is an attack on another country by a government entity. Those countries have right to retaliate aka a trade war and because of the problems of selling to the EU as a non EU country you know which way the trade imbalance is.
The trade for example between Australia and Sweden won’t be large but it will be in the favour of Sweden.
So lets check the official figures (https://dfat.gov.au/geo/sweden/Pages/sweden-country-brief.aspx)
Pretty much exactly what you would expect
Nobody should really care what Sweden does. The Western world has caused itself enough pain worrying about Europe and it’s stupid decisions over the past 100 years or so. Far too much blood and treasure has gone from the new world to those imbeciles. As for “per capita” measures, they are ludicrous on their face. Canada and Australia had NOTHING to do with the population growth policies in places like India and China over the last 100 years. They did it themselves. The only reasonable measure (if one needs a measure at all) is emissions per square mile of the area of the country. That will account for EVERYTHING in each country. Population, land use, agriculture policies, forestry practices, mining, water……everything.
Well said Joey…… +11
This Aussie is also annoyed at the suggested implications, not the actual sale, because we are one of the few countries likely to meet our Paris commitment. The hypocrisy of not selling off Indian and Chinese bonds is also clear as they have a free pass until 2030. If there is such a climate emergency then why do these two countries get to keep on emitting while destroying the only countries that actually do anything about the so called emergency and pay for everyone else.
I think commonsense has lost the battle and it will only be when the crazies running this agenda find the consequences of their policies also affect them, hat things will change. By then many many people will have been damaged unnecessarily.
We should all have a wry smile when we hear stories like this, it’s a dog eat dog world and every time woke organisations like Sweden’s Central Bank kick an own goal it sets them back and pushes the rest of us a little further in front.
Go woke go broke, keep fighting the woke fight Sweden.
Indeed. If Sweden wants to “go woke and go broke” I say let them. Their losses are gains for others.
Sweden sold Iron Ore, Molybdenum and SKF ball bearings to Germany during World War II and collected money from Germany for transporting Axis troops by rail through Sweden to stab Norway in the back in the Axis invasion of that country. During the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Sweden allowed the Wehrmacht to use Swedish railways to transport (June–July 1941) the German 163rd Infantry Division along with howitzers, tanks and anti-aircraft weapons and associated ammunition from Norway to Finland. German soldiers travelling on leave between Norway and Germany were allowed passage through Sweden. Sweden, like Switzerland, emerged from World War II as a wealthy place, unlike the rest of Europe. The Swedish group moral record is not high.
What part of neutral do you not understand?
They had no reason not to sell goods and services to the Germans. Morality has nothing to do with it.
If you want to talk immorality, we gave tanks to the Soviets. Even delivered them. At least the Swedes made the Germans PAY for the goods and services.
As Gamecock points out, they were considered neutral during the war. That means they don’t treat other countries (in this case Germany) as enemies. As such, they had no reason not to do business with the Germans. Germany wasn’t the only country they were doing business with. And while they were letting the German troops to use Swedish railways, they also acted as a refuge for anti-fascist and Jewish refugees from all over the region In 1943, following an order to deport all of Denmark’s Jewish population to concentration camps, nearly all of Denmark’s 8,000 Jews were brought to safety in Sweden. Sweden also became a refuge for Norwegian Jews who fled from German occupied Norway (I noticed you didn’t quote that part of the wiki article you stole most of your post from when attacking Sweden’s “moral” record).
I would hope then that the Swedish government immediately shuts down all mining equipment manufacturers and operating mines.
It seems that they are listening to their own little Grrrrrretalin.
Postie “tty” in another thread said Sweden had gone insane. Looks like “tty” was wrong. Sweden has gone more insane.
They can use the money to hire more police to fight the rape crisis and granade attacks in the no go zones.
I suspect Sweden’s “climate change” explanation is a smoke screen.
Sweden’s economy is in serious trouble with an unemployment rate of 7.4% and GDP growth of 0.1%. I suspect the truth is Sweden Central bank is reading it’s tea leaves and concluding a severe world-wild economic down turn is coming soon (say within two years). Hence, Sweden is throwing is fellow “climate change friendly” countries under the bus starting with the most vulnerable. Both Canada and Australia have significant housing bubbles bubbles, high related mortgage debt, and few options in an economic down turn. Thrown in the fact that Germany is headed into recession, the Euro is doomed, and the rest of Europe will go the way of the Euro. Well you can see the coming mess.
And add to that that Sweden led the band wagon of negative interest rates and the Euro zone lapped that policy up without considering the impact of negative bond rates on the world’s repurchase (repo) market and the resulting impacts on the real economy.
Seriously did it not occur to Sweden and the EU that the short term banking repo markets wouldn’t begin to charge high interest rates when too many of the world’s AAA rated government bonds had a negative interest rates? I mean really… who going to use these bonds as collateral for a short-term loan when the collateral itself is losing the lender money? At that point it doesn’t matter how high a bond is rated, a negative yield on any bond is nothing more than an up front default. Did they really think the worlds banks were that stupid? And did they not consider the policy itself would effectively push vulnerable German banks towards a bankruptcy cliff? Or that U.S. banks would wise up and balk at taking the same path… leading the current U.S. repo phenomenon and causing the U.S. Central bank to provide artificial liquidity due a shortage of “safe” positive yielding government bonds?
Well… you can see Sweden’s problem. I don’t see Sweden selling U.S. bonds since the U.S. can, in a relative sense, “prosper” in a world down turn.
The bottom line… Sweden can’t take many more hits and its headed for the economic exits not to “save the world” but in a desperate effort to save itself.
Those ultra smart Swedes have obviously read in one of those colouring books in the children section of the Malmo City Library that Canada is in the tropics and all those greenhouse gases are a result of the proletarit using those damned air conditioners all year round – I mean can’t those peskey Albertans (of which I am proudly one BTW) at least turn the A/C off over their typical tropical winter amd stop having those BBQ’s – a bloody disgrace they are!!!
NOTE: Malmo City Library recently burnt down and both books were totally destroyed, and, one wasn’t even coloured in yet.
roflmao!!
they had TWO books?
wow
+++++++ wipes coffee from screen n keyboard
When a person or corporation sells something, then there has to b e a buyer.
So as usual its a case of Virtue signalling.. Look at me, I am so good.
So the buyer considers these bonds to be of long term value.
MJE VK5ELL
Stock Change performance is as predictable as climate change :
https://www.google.com/search?q=Sweden+bonds+profit+warning&oq=Sweden+bonds+profit+warning&aqs=chrome.