Latest news with #KLP
Leaders
12 hours ago
- Business
- Leaders
Norwegian Fund Blacklists US, German Companies Selling Weapons to Israel
KLP, Norway's biggest pension fund, has announced that it will no longer do business with two companies selling weapons to Israel as the equipment is possibly being used in the war in Gaza, according to AFP. The Norwegian fund has dropped US group Oshkosh Corporation and Germany's ThyssenKrupp from its investment portfolio as they supply Isreal with military trucks and equipment. 'Companies have an independent duty to exercise due diligence in order to avoid complicity in violations of fundamental human rights and humanitarian law,' Kiran Aziz, head of responsible investments at KLP Asset Management, said in a statement. KLP also accused ThyssenKrupp of providing Israel's military with corvettes and submarines before the outbreak of Gaza War. Crucially, the fund sold its holdings in Oshkosh Corporation worth 19 million kroner ($1.9 million). Meanwhile, it also sold its investment in ThyssenKrupp valued at 10 million kroner. KLP also confirmed that both companies have strong cooperation with the Israeli armed forces and these relations continued even after the start of the war on Gaza. 'The transfer of weapons and ammunition to Israel may constitute serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian laws and risk state complicity in international crimes, possibly including genocide,' UN experts warned in June 2024. The exclusion of the two companies is based on KLP's criterion relating to the 'sale of weapons to states in armed conflicts that use the weapons in ways that represent serious and systematic breaches of international law governing the conflicts', KLP said. Related Topics: Hamas Reports Intensified Gaza Ceasefire Talks France Offers Help for Safer Gaza Aid Distribution as Trump Urges for Ceasefire Israel Kills 51 Palestinians Near Aid Site in Gaza Short link : Post Views: 40
RNZ News
12 hours ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Norwegian fund bars US, German arms makers over Gaza war
A picture taken from Jabalia city inside the Gaza Strip shows the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahia amid destroyed buildings, in the north of the Gaza Strip, on 28 June. Photo: AFP/ Bashar Taleb Norway's biggest pension fund KLP says it has dropped US group Oshkosh Corporation and Germany's ThyssenKrupp from its investment portfolio for selling weapons and equipment used by Israel's military in Gaza. KLP - which is separate from Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest - said Oshkosh Corporation was supplying trucks to the Israeli military, which adapts them into armoured troop transport vehicles. The fund also accused ThyssenKrupp of agreeing to supply Israel's navy, before the outbreak of the war in Gaza, with corvettes and submarines. "Companies have an independent duty to exercise due diligence in order to avoid complicity in violations of fundamental human rights and humanitarian law," said Kiran Aziz, head of responsible investments at KLP Asset Management, in a statement. KLP, which managed assets worth $US114 billion in the first quarter, sold its holdings in Oshkosh Corporation valued at 19 million kroner ($US1.9 million). It also sold its investment in ThyssenKrupp worth 10 million kroner. The two companies were excluded on the basis of KLP's criterion relating to the "sale of weapons to states in armed conflicts that use the weapons in ways that represent serious and systematic breaches of international law governing the conflicts", KLP said. The fund emphasised that the two companies had long-established cooperations with the Israeli army, and their deliveries continued after the start of the Gaza war on 7 October, 2023. "The transfer of weapons and ammunition to Israel may constitute serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian laws and risk state complicity in international crimes, possibly including genocide," UN experts warned in June 2024. Meanwhile, Norway's sovereign wealth fund, whose assets are valued at around $US1.9 trillion, is also under pressure to divest further from groups accused of helping Israel wage war on Gaza and continue its settlement policy in the occupied West Bank. - Agence France-Presse
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Norwegian pension fund divests from companies selling to Israeli military
Norway's largest pension fund, KLP, has said that it will no longer do business with two companies that sell equipment to the Israeli military because the equipment is possibly being used in the war in Gaza. The two companies are the Oshkosh Corporation, a United States company mostly focused on trucks and military vehicles, and ThyssenKrupp, a German industrial firm that makes a broad selection of products, ranging from elevators and industrial machinery to warships. 'In June 2024, KLP learned of reports from the UN that several named companies were supplying weapons or equipment to the [Israeli army] and that these weapons are being used in Gaza,' Kiran Aziz, the head of responsible investments at KLP Kapitalforvaltning, said in a statement provided to Al Jazeera. 'Our conclusion is that the companies Oshkosh and ThyssenKrupp are contravening our responsible investment guidelines,' the statement said. 'We have therefore decided to exclude them from our investment universe.' According to the pension fund, it had investments worth $1.8m in Oshkosh and almost $1m in ThyssenKrupp until June 2025. KLP, founded in 1949 and the country's largest pension fund, oversees a fund worth about $114bn. It is a public pension fund owned by municipalities and businesses in the public sector, and has a pension scheme that covers about 900,000 people, mostly municipal workers, according to its website. KLP said that it had been in touch with both companies before it made its decision and that Oshkosh 'confirmed that it has sold, and continues to sell, equipment that is used by the [Israeli army] in Gaza', mostly vehicles and parts for vehicles. ThyssenKrupp told KLP that 'it has a long-term relationship with [the Israeli army]' and that it had delivered four warships of the type Sa'ar 6 to the Israeli Navy in the period November 2020 to May 2021. The German company also said it had plans to deliver a submarine to the Israeli Navy later this year. When asked by KLP what checks and balances were made when it came to the use of the equipment the companies delivered, KLP said both Oshkosh and ThyssenKrupp 'failed to document the necessary due diligence in relation to their potential complicity in violations of humanitarian law'. 'Companies have an independent duty to exercise due diligence in order to avoid complicity in violations of fundamental human rights and humanitarian law,' said Aziz. This is not the first time that the pension fund has divested from companies linked to possible human rights abuses. In 2021, KLP divested from 16 companies, including telecom giant Motorola, that it concluded were linked to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The pension fund said there was an 'unacceptable risk that the excluded companies are contributing to the abuse of human rights in situations of war and conflict through their links with the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank'. That same year, KLP also said it was divesting from the Indian port and logistics group Adani Ports because of its links to the Myanmar military government. Last summer, KLP also divested from US firm Caterpillar. In an opinion piece for Al Jazeera, the KLP's Aziz wrote that Caterpillar's bulldozers undergo adjustments in Israel by the military and local companies, and are subsequently used in the occupied Palestinian territory. 'The constant use of these weaponised bulldozers in the occupied Palestinian territory has led to a series of human rights warnings from United Nations agencies, and nongovernmental organisations over the last two decades about the company's involvement in the demolition of Palestinian homes and infrastructure,' she wrote. 'It is therefore impossible to assert that the company has implemented adequate measures to avoid becoming involved in future norm violations.' The latest move builds on a series of similar decisions among several large investment funds in Europe that have cut ties with Israeli companies for their involvement in either the war in Gaza or because of links to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. In May, Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world, said it would divest from Israel's Paz Retail and Energy because of the company's involvement in supplying infrastructure and fuel to illegal Israeli settlements. This came after an earlier decision in December last year to sell all shares it had in another Israeli company, Bezeq, for its services provided to the illegal settlements. Other pension funds as well as wealth funds have also, in recent years, distanced themselves from companies accused of enabling or cooperating with Israel's illegal occupation of the West Bank or its war on Gaza. In February 2024, Denmark's largest pension fund divested from several Israeli banks and companies as the fund feared its investments could be used to fund the settlements in the West Bank. Six months later, the United Kingdom's largest pension fund, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), said it would sell off all its investments linked to Israel because of its war on Gaza. The fund, which totals about $79bn, said it would sell its $101m worth of investments after pressure from its members.
Mint
14 hours ago
- Business
- Mint
Norway Pension Fund Blacklists Firms Supplying Israeli Military
Norway's largest private pension fund has excluded two defense companies from its portfolio, citing their ties to the Israeli military and the war in Gaza. KLP Pension, which oversees about $114 billion, said in a statement on Monday that it won't invest in Oshkosh Corp. or ThyssenKrupp AG because they sell weapons to the Israeli military. The fund said the decision followed a report from United Nations last June that identified companies supplying the Israel Defense Forces with weapons that ended up being deployed in Gaza. After talks with the companies, KLP said it concluded they were 'contravening' the fund's investment guidelines. 'We have therefore decided to exclude them from our investment universe,' Kiran Aziz, head of responsible investments at KLP Kapitalforvaltning, said in the statement. Before June 16, KLP held shares worth about 19 million kroner in Oshkosh and roughly 10 million kroner in ThyssenKrupp. Spokespeople for Oshkosh and ThyssenKrupp didn't respond to a request for comment sent outside regular office hours. Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and sparking a war in Gaza that has dragged on for almost 20 months. More than 55,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, while large parts of the territory have been reduced to rubble. KLP's decision feeds into a broader campaign by human rights activists urging financial firms and consumers to either divest from or boycott companies linked to Israel. In Norway, that campaign has singled out Norges Bank Investment Management, the country's $1.9 trillion sovereign wealth fund, which has holdings in hundreds of Israeli companies. The wealth fund, the world's largest, has previously excluded companies due to their links to Israel's occupation of the West Bank. KLP cited guidance from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and a group of UN experts, which have said that companies selling weapons, parts, components or ammunition to Israeli forces risk becoming complicit in serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli government has denied the charges, saying its conduct in the conflict has been in line with international law. KLP said its investment guidelines prevent it from owning stakes in companies that are involved in the 'sale of weapons to states in armed conflicts that use the weapons in ways that represent serious and systematic breaches of international law governing the conflicts.' Companies are expected to 'exercise due diligence in order to avoid complicity in violations of fundamental human rights and humanitarian law,' Aziz said. KLP excluded Caterpillar Inc. last year on similar grounds. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Bloomberg
17 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Norway Pension Fund Blacklists Firms Supplying Israeli Military
Norway's largest private pension fund has excluded two defense companies from its portfolio, citing their ties to the Israeli military and the war in Gaza. KLP Pension, which oversees about $114 billion, said in a statement on Monday that it won't invest in Oshkosh Corp. or ThyssenKrupp AG because they sell weapons to the Israeli military.
