Stockholm (NordSIP) – Following the announcement that it had divested from its holdings of 11 Israeli companies at the start of August, Norges Bank Invesment Management (NBIM) has announced it is in the process of divesting from another six companies.
NBIM’s Recent Divestments
NBIM’s decision is part of an institutional dialogue with the Finance Ministry and the country’s Council on Ethics.
“Norges Bank’s Executive Board decided on 8 August 2025 to exclude six companies with connections to the West Bank and Gaza, based on recommendations from the Council on Ethics dated 25 June and 2 July. The names of these companies, and the recommendations from the Council on Ethics, will, in line with usual practice, be published once the divestment is completed,” NBIM’s reply to Norway’s Ministry of Finance explains. NBIM’s letter further describes these six companies as having “operations connected to the West Bank and Gaza” but does not go into any further detail.
To contextualise this announcement, NBIM provides a brief history of its holdings in Israeli companies. “As of 14 August 2025, the fund had 19 billion kroner invested in 38 companies listed in Israel. This was a decrease of 4 billion kroner and 23 companies respectively from 30 June 2025. The portfolio has been reduced by 6 smaller companies since 11 August. At the end of the first half of the year, we had 11 billion kroner less invested in Israeli companies than what follows from the benchmark index. At the end of the first half of the year, there were 56 Israeli companies, corresponding to 34 billion kroner, in the benchmark index. The fund has no investments in Israeli bonds.”
NBIM’s Approach to Divestments
NBIM’s divestment from Israeli companies is a response to the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the West Bank and the Norwegian government’s concern about the specific application of norms-based investment criteria in light of its understanding of the situation on the ground.
Noting the gravity of these decisions, NBIM points towards the guidance it received from the Finance Ministry as the motivation for its decisions. “Exclusions are limited to the gravest forms of ethical norm violations. The threshold for excluding companies from GPFG shall be high. The guidelines are forward-looking and concern the risk of ongoing or future unacceptable conditions. Exclusion is not a mechanism based on concluded company actions that lie in the past.”
The process of applying exclusions is a dynamic part of NBIM’s due diligence, evolving as conditions on the ground change. “Over a long period of time, we have closely monitored companies operating in areas with war and conflict. As situations and areas with war and conflict has increased in recent years, Norges Bank Investment Management has strengthened the ownership work and risk monitoring,” NBIM explains.
Remarking that “the war in Gaza is a humanitarian crisis,” NBIM emphasised that it “fully understands that questions about the fund’s investments in Israeli companies are raised at this time.”
The Norwegian Government’s View of the Palestinian Conflict
The Norwegian Government is clear: Israel has a right to exist, but the Israel-Palestinian conflict requires a two-state solution and the mutual respect of each side’s human rights.
“The government has taken a very clear position on the war in the Middle East. Israel has the right to defend itself, but we believe that the way parts of the war have been waged is in violation of the international law of war. We must put a ceasefire in place. Vital humanitarian aid must enter Gaza. The political process for a two-state solution is the only path to lasting peace and security in Israel and Palestine. That is why Norway recognised Palestine as a state in 2023, and that is why Norway, together with Saudi Arabia and the EU, is leading the global alliance for a two-state solution,” the Norwegian government notes on its report on its most important achievements.
In its response to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory, the Norwegian Government described “the unbearable humanitarian situation inflicted upon the civilian population since the beginning of the war in Gaza” as “unacceptable”. It also condemned “violations of international law, including the refusal to allow access to life-saving humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
