Latest news with #CouncilonEthics
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Norway lawmakers oppose blanket ban by wealth fund on companies in Israeli-occupied areas
FILE PHOTO: A Jewish settler walks past Israeli settlement construction sites around Givat Zeev and Ramat Givat Zeev in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, near Jerusalem June 30, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo FILE PHOTO: A view of the Israeli settlement Ofra near Palestinian town of Turmus Ayya where Israeli settlers torched houses, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo FILE PHOTO: Svein Richard Brandtzaeg, head of the Council on Ethics for the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund, poses for a picture in Oslo, Norway, on March 19, 2024. REUTERS/Gwladys Fouche/File Photo FILE PHOTO: A view of new buildings around the Israeli settlement Talmon B near the Palestinian town of Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman/File Photo OSLO - Norway's parliament on Wednesday rejected a proposal to have the country's $1.9 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, divest from all companies with activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. The minority Labour government has for months been resisting pressure from pro-Palestinian campaigners to instruct the fund to divest from all firms with ties to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and parliament had been expected to vote against. "We have an established ethical regime for the fund," Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg told the chamber earlier in the day, during a debate on several aspects of the way the fund is run. "We divest from the companies that contribute to Israel's breach of international law, but we do not divest from all companies that are present on the ground." Lawmaker Ingrid Fiskaa from the small Socialist Left opposition party told the chamber: "Without Norwegian oil fund money, it would be more difficult for Israeli authorities to demolish the homes of Palestinian families." The United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, wrote to Stoltenberg to alert him to what she called the "structural entanglement of Israeli corporations ... in the machinery of the occupation both in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, and the violence that sustains it". "International corporations benefiting from (the Norwegian fund's) investments are critical components of the infrastructure sustaining the economy of the occupation," she wrote, in a letter dated May 20. Stoltenberg replied that the government was "confident that the investments do not violate Norway's obligations under international law". He noted that the fund follows ethical guidelines set by parliament, and that compliance is monitored by a separate body. That watchdog has over the past year recommended divestments from Israeli petrol station chain Paz and telecoms company Bezeq and is looking at more potential divestments in Israel. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Norway lawmakers to oppose blocking wealth fund investment in firms in Israeli-occupied areas
FILE PHOTO: A Jewish settler walks past Israeli settlement construction sites around Givat Zeev and Ramat Givat Zeev in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, near Jerusalem June 30, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo FILE PHOTO: A view of the Israeli settlement Ofra near Palestinian town of Turmus Ayya where Israeli settlers torched houses, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo FILE PHOTO: Svein Richard Brandtzaeg, head of the Council on Ethics for the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund, poses for a picture in Oslo, Norway, on March 19, 2024. REUTERS/Gwladys Fouche/File Photo FILE PHOTO: A view of new buildings around the Israeli settlement Talmon B near the Palestinian town of Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman/File Photo OSLO - Lawmakers were on Wednesday debating whether Norway's $1.9 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, should divest from all companies with activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. A formal vote was expected around 3 p.m. Parliament was expected to reject a wholesale boycott. The minority Labour government has for months been resisting pressure from pro-Palestinian campaigners to instruct the fund to divest from all firms with ties to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. "We have an established ethical regime for the fund," Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg told the chamber in a debate on several aspects of the way the fund is run. "We divest from the companies that contribute to Israel's breach of international law, but we do not divest from all companies that are present on the ground." Lawmaker Ingrid Fiskaa from the small Socialist Left opposition party told the chamber: "Without Norwegian oil fund money, it would be more difficult for Israeli authorities to demolish the homes of Palestinian families." The United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, wrote to Stoltenberg to alert him to what she called the "structural entanglement of Israeli corporations ... in the machinery of the occupation both in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, and the violence that sustains it". "International corporations benefiting from (the Norwegian fund's) investments are critical components of the infrastructure sustaining the economy of the occupation," she wrote, in a letter dated May 20. Stoltenberg replied that the government was "confident that the investments do not violate Norway's obligations under international law". He noted that the fund follows ethical guidelines set by parliament, and that compliance is monitored by a separate body. That watchdog has over the past year recommended divestments from Israeli petrol station chain Paz and telecoms company Bezeq and is looking at more potential divestments in Israel. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Reuters
3 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Norway fund's ethics body reviews Israeli bank stakes over West Bank settler loans
OSLO/LONDON/JERUSALEM, June 3 (Reuters) - The ethics watchdog for Norway's $1.9 trillion wealth fund is scrutinising Israeli banks' practice of underwriting Israeli settlers' housebuilding commitments in the occupied West Bank in a review that could prompt up to $500 million in divestments. The Council on Ethics, opens new tab, a public body set up, opens new tab by the Ministry of Finance, has, however, decided not to object to the Fund's investments in accommodation platforms such as Airbnb (ABNB.O), opens new tab that offer rentals in the Jewish settlements. The body checks that firms in the portfolio of the world's largest wealth fund meet ethical guidelines set by Norway's parliament. In an interview with Reuters on May 22, Council head Svein Richard Brandtzaeg said it was examining how Israeli banks offer guarantees that protect Israeli settlers' money if the company building their home in the West Bank should fold. Other practices are also being looked at "but this is what we can see so far", he said. "That is what is well documented." He declined to say how long the review would take. Brandtzaeg did not name the banks but, at the end of 2024, the fund owned about 5 billion crowns ($500 million) in shares in the five largest Israeli lenders, up 62% in 12 months, according to the latest data. The banks - Hapoalim ( opens new tab, Bank Leumi ( opens new tab, Israel Discount Bank ( opens new tab, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank ( opens new tab and First International Bank of Israel ( opens new tab - did not answer requests for comment. Since 2020, they have been included in a list, opens new tab of companies with ties to settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories compiled by a U.N. mission assessing the implications for Palestinian rights. Latterly, investor concern has grown around the world over a 19-month-old Israeli onslaught that has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and devastated the Gaza Strip in response to an attack by Hamas militants that killed more than 1,200 Israelis. Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Many settlements are adjacent to Palestinian areas and some Israeli firms serve both Israelis and Palestinians. The United Nations' top court last year found that Israeli settlements built on territory seized in 1967 were illegal, a ruling that Israel called "fundamentally wrong", citing historical and biblical ties to the land. In mid-2024, the Council on Ethics began a new review, opens new tab of investments linked to the West Bank and Gaza. It examined 65 companies but recommended only petrol station chain Paz ( opens new tab and telecoms company Bezeq ( opens new tab for divestment, resulting in share sales. The Council also scrutinised some multinationals to see if their activities in the West Bank met its guidelines. Among them were the accommodation platforms, including Airbnb (ABNB.O), opens new tab, (BKNG.O), opens new tab, TripAdvisor (TRIP.O), opens new tab and Expedia (EXPE.O), opens new tab, named on the U.N. list, opens new tab and accounting for about $3 billion in Fund investments. But the Council will not recommend watchlisting or divesting from those, Eli Ane Lund, head of its secretariat, said in the joint interview. "The company's activity must have some kind of influence on the (ethical) violations," she said. "It's not (enough) to have a connection, it has to have something to do with the violation, it must contribute to it." The Council's recommendations go to the central bank, which is not obliged to follow them but generally does. If investments are sold, it is done gradually to avoid alerting markets, and the decision is then made public. Pro-Palestinian campaigners say the Council sets its bar too high for recommending divestments, and that the Norwegian government should instruct the fund to conduct a general divestment from Israel just as it did for Russia in 2022, three days after Moscow invaded Ukraine. But most lawmakers support the Council's approach, and are set on Wednesday to formally endorse a parliamentary finance committee's decision not to order a wholesale boycott.
Middle East Eye
12-05-2025
- Business
- Middle East Eye
World's largest wealth fund divests from Israeli energy company
Norway's sovereign wealth fund has decided to divest from Israel's Paz Retail and Energy because it owns and operates infrastructure supplying fuel to Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. It marks the second divestment after the fund's ethics watchdog, the Council on Ethics, adopted a tougher interpretation of ethics standards for businesses in August that aid Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The fund, the world's largest, owns 1.5 percent of listed shares across 9,000 companies globally. Worth $1.8 trillion, the Norwegian fund has been an international leader in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment field. 'By operating infrastructure for the supply of fuel to the Israeli settlements on the West Bank, Paz is contributing to their perpetuation,' the Council on Ethics said in its recommendation to divest. 'The settlements have been established in violation of international law, and their perpetuation constitutes an ongoing violation thereof.' New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters It comes after a similar decision was made in December to sell all shares in Israel's largest telecoms group, Bezeq, over its involvement in the occupied territories. Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik has denounced Israel's ongoing siege on Gaza as 'unconscionable and deeply illegal'. Norway is among 147 states that have recognised Palestinian statehood. In April, a year after Norway's recognition, Kravik announced the formal establishment of diplomatic relations with Palestine, with the appointment of Palestinian ambassador Marie Antoinette Sedin. In addition to initiating the International Court of Justice (ICJ) case on Israel's humanitarian obligations under international law, Norway is leading an international coalition for the two-state solution, along with Saudi Arabia and the European Union, Kravik told Middle East Eye. A UN conference on Palestinian statehood is scheduled to be held in New York from 2-4 June, based on a UN General Assembly resolution passed in December in support of the two-state solution.
Reuters
10-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Norway's wealth fund watchdog clears most companies in Gaza review
Summary Companies • Majority of companies reviewed meet ethical guidelines • Review carried out under tougher ethics standards • One unnamed company could face exclusion OSLO, March 10 - The watchdog of Norway's $1.8 trillion sovereign wealth fund said on Monday that most companies it reviewed over their activities in the occupied Palestinian territories met the fund's ethical guidelines. It said a second company could face divestment, however, after the fund pulled out of Israeli telecoms firm Bezeq in December under a new, tougher interpretation of its ethics standards. The fund, which owns 1.5% of listed shares across 9,000 companies globally, operates under guidelines set by Norway's parliament and is seen as a leader in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) field. With the onset of the war in Gaza in October 2023, its watchdog, the Council on Ethics, launched the review to check for possible breaches by businesses aiding Israel's operations in the occupied Palestinian territories. "The Council has concluded that the majority of companies reviewed do not meet the threshold for exclusion," it said in its annual report, noting that the threshold to exclude is "high by intention". In addition to Bezeq, the council said it had so far sent a second recommendation for exclusion to the board of the central bank. "They are companies involved with business operations within critical infrastructure," it said. It did not name the second company. The board often follows the watchdog's recommendation, but not always. Overall, the watchdog assessed around 65 companies in the fund's portfolio working in sectors including energy supply, infrastructure construction, travel and tourism and banking among others. Some companies had ceased operations in the West Bank, while two companies had voiced their intention to do so, the council said. The fund focuses on the present and future risk of ethical guideline breaches, rather than looking at past actions, it said. An additional "important factor in the Council's assessment is whether the activities of a given company are a prerequisite for the international law violation to occur," it said. The watchdog said it contacted two weapons manufacturers - one German and one from the U.S. - during the review. "Neither company had any ongoing deliveries of relevant weapon types to Israel," it said. The council said that, having completed its review of companies operating in Gaza, this year it would continue its work looking into firms operating in the West Bank.
