As of early September 2025, Norway's $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund has divested from Caterpillar and five major Israeli banks over ethical concerns tied to Israeli military actions in Gaza and the West Bank. The fund cited violations of international humanitarian law linked to Caterpillar's bulldozers and the banks' financing of Israeli settlements. It is ending contracts with external Israeli asset managers and intensifying ethical reviews, while rejecting full divestment from all Israeli companies.
Norway's sovereign wealth fund is navigating a complex intersection of ethical investment mandates and geopolitical realities. The divestment from Caterpillar and Israeli banks reflects a stringent application of ethical guidelines concerning international humanitarian law violations. However, the fund's continued investments in companies from countries with questionable human rights records, such as China and Turkey, expose inconsistencies that fuel criticism and political debate.
The fund's decisions are not merely financial but deeply political, influencing Norway's international stance and domestic politics. The Labour Party government, led by Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, faces pressure from left-wing factions advocating for broader divestment from Israeli companies. Yet, the government resists a full withdrawal, citing the need to avoid politically motivated divestment solely based on nationality.
US politicians, notably Senator JD McCormick and Lindsey Graham, have condemned the divestments as politically motivated and anti-Israel, threatening economic retaliation including tariffs and visa sanctions. This introduces a risk of escalating diplomatic tensions, potentially impacting Norway's substantial US asset holdings.
The fund will likely continue refining its ethical review processes, increasing transparency and oversight, especially regarding Israeli investments. Political dynamics in Norway and international pressure will shape further divestments. The fund's role as a global investment trendsetter means its decisions will influence other institutional investors, potentially amplifying the economic and political impact of its ethical stances.
Norway's sovereign wealth fund, established in the 1990s to manage oil revenues, is the world's largest at $2 trillion. It operates under ethical guidelines to avoid investments linked to serious human rights violations. Following Israel's 2023 conflict with Hamas and ongoing military actions in Gaza and the West Bank, the fund faced scrutiny for holdings in Israeli companies, prompting a review and divestments amid domestic political debate ahead of Norway's September 2025 elections.
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Jonas Gahr Støre (Norwegian: [ˈjùːnɑs gɑː‿ˈʂtø̂ːrə]; born 25 August 1960) is a Norwegian politician who has served as the prime minister of Norway since 2021. He has been leader of the Labour Party since 2014. He served under prime minister
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Nicolai Tangen is a Norwegian hedge fund manager. He is credited with holding the biggest private collection of modernist Nordic art in the world.
Tangen has actively funded initiatives within arts and education through the AKO Foundation.
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Jens Stoltenberg is a Norwegian politician who has been serving as the 13th secretary general of NATO since 2014. A member of the Labour Party, he was Prime Minister of Norway from 2000 to 2001 and from 2005 to 2013.
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Israel, formally known as the State of Israel, is a country in Western Asia, located on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea.
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Lindsey Olin Graham is an American politician, affiliated to the Republican Party, who serves as the senior United States Senator from South Carolina, a seat he has held since 2003.
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Caterpillar Inc. is an American Fortune 100 corporation which designs, develops, engineers, manufactures, markets, and sells machinery, engines, financial products, and insurance to customers via a worldwide dealer network.
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Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe whose mainland territory comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula; Mainland Norway and the remote island of Jan Mayen as well as the archi
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Gaza most commonly refers to:
Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea
Gaza City, a city in the Gaza Strip
Gaza may also refer to:
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Donald John Trump is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
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The Gaza Strip, or simply Gaza, is a self-governing Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, that borders Egypt on the southwest for 11 kilometers and Israel on the east and north along a 51 km border.
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The West Bank is a landlocked territory near the Mediterranean coast of Western Asia, bordered by Jordan to the east and by Israel to the south, west and north. The West Bank also contains a significant section of the western Dead Sea shore.