Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) is looking to find out whether the companies in which it has a stake comply with its ethical investment guidelines regarding the war in Gaza.
Ethics Regulator of Norway’s Wealth Fund Looking into Firms with Possible Gaza War Ties
At the end of January 2024, the wealth fund reported a record 2023 profit of $213bn and a current value of $1.6tn.
Based on a Reuters report, Svein Richard Brandtzæg, the chairperson of the Council of Ethics, said that due to the Gaza conflict, it must determine which organisations sell weapons used in the war to Israel.
Norway has the largest wealth fund in the world and owns 1.5% of globally listed shares. The investment management firm abides by the ethics rules of its sovereign parliament. According to Reuters data, it has divested interests from nine Israeli companies in the past because of involvement in the occupied Palestinian regions.
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NIBM’s exclusion criteria state that in instances such as these, it considers the findings of the Council of Ethics and then “takes the final decision on whether companies should be excluded from the fund, placed under observation, or followed up through active ownership”.
In a Reuters interview, Brandtzæg commented:
We are looking at this because of the seriousness of the breach of the norms that we see.
Brandtzæg did not identify any companies and indicated that Israeli and non-Israeli firms may come under the spotlight. Parliament restrictions include investing in companies dealing in nuclear weapons, landmines, tobacco and cannabis.
