The world’s largest publicly owned investment fund, the Norwegian Oil Fund (Oljefondet), is putting new ethic policies on hold. The Norwegian parliament agreed with a proposition of the country’s government to freeze more ethic investments. The course change comes about two months after severe criticism of the US government on this change.
Oljefondet will be pausing the sale of shares in companies that have a questionable ethic policy, meaning having a production that contributes to pollution, human rights violations, or war. Norwegian Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg argues that with implementing the new course the Norwegian Oil Fund had to sell that many shares in US companies, it would no longer be the globally operating fund it set out to be.
Earlier this year, Oljefondet sold its shares in US construction equipment company Caterpillar and Israeli banks. The current value of the Norwegian Oil Fund is about EUR 1.8 trillion. | © 2025 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Featured photo of the Norwegian flag by Rawpixel (public domain)