Norway’s fjords were uncovered when glaciers melted at the end of the last ice age. Now, preventing further global warming is the new mission of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund. Managing $400bn, or about $83,000 per inhabitant, it will invest 1 per cent in “sustainable” investments. This allocation, the first by an oil producer’s SWF, has allowed Norway to pip to the post the European Union, whose talks ahead of December’s climate change meeting in Copenhagen have produced little beyond dangerous levels of hot air. Behind the scenes, however, lurks a more strategic objective.

Debate in Copenhagen will centre on how to distribute assistance to developing countries. China, now the world’s largest polluter, has proposed reparations by wealthy countries of 1 per cent of gross domestic product. Although the size of Beijing’s proposal has been largely ignored, it highlights that financial aid will be a reality. This could be paid by various means, such as a tax on oil production. Pre-empting this, Norway has publicised its preferred method.