The Council on Ethics recommends to exclude Tong Ren Tang Technologies Co Ltd and its subsidiary Beijing Tong Ren Tang Chinese Medicine Co Ltd from the Government Pension Fund Global due to an unacceptable risk of these companies contributing to severe environmental damage.
Both companies are Chinese pharmaceutical companies that manufacture and market Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The companies’ products contain body parts from globally threatened species such as horns from saiga antelope, leopard bones, pangolin scales and musk from musk deer.
The use of threatened animal species in TCM products may contribute to illegal wildlife trade and increases the risk to of these species becoming extinct. There is no information concerning the quantity of body parts of threatened species that the company uses, where the animal parts originate from, what stockpiles exist and how these are replenished. When such data is not made available, the Council on Ethics concludes that the company contributes to severe environmental damage. The company has not disclosed any specific plans to replace the ingredients based on threatened species with other ingredients.
The Council on Ethics submitted its recommendation 15 March 2021. Norges Bank published its decision to exclude the company on 29 Septbember 2021.
Please find the Council’s recommendation here.