With an election looming, will politicians finally listen to the majority of citizens, who want to divest from Israeli arms companies?
O
il has made Norway extremely rich. We have the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, which was established with petroleum revenues in 1990. Headed by the wealthy banker and art investor Nicolai Tangen, the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), has a current value of more than 20 239bn Norwegian kroner (£1.4tr). With holdings in about 8,500 companies in 69 different countries, it is the largest single investor in the world.
Norway also purports to have a human-rights-based foreign policy, and the sovereign wealth fund is supposed to adhere to a set of ethical guidelines. Companies may be excluded if there is a risk that they contribute to or are responsible for serious human rights violations, or are involved in the sale of weapons to states that violate international law in armed conflicts. A Council on Ethics makes recommendations about exclusions from the GPFG’s investment portfolio, but only after the fact.
Since 2024, the government has repeatedly cautioned Norwegian business not to invest in companies that support Israeli occupation policies or human rights violations. But it seems to have had few problems with the fact that the sovereign wealth fund has investments totalling 22.7bn Norwegian kroner (£1.6bn) in 65 Israeli companies.
