The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund has sold off a large stake in US blue chip Caterpillar in a new batch of blacklistings it has justified with the companies’ business activity supporting the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which runs the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), announced yesterday it had decided to exclude Caterpillar, along with five Israeli banking stocks, “due to an unacceptable risk that the companies contribute to serious violations of the rights of individuals in situations of war and conflict”.
“The decision is based on recommendations from the Council on Ethics of 25 June and 2 July 2025,” it said.
The five banking stocks are: First International Bank of Israel and the holding company FIBI Holdings; Bank Leumi Le-Israel; Mizrahi Tefahot Bank and Bank Hapoalim.
In total, the GPFG had NOK6.68bn (€565m) invested in these five stocks at the end of June 2025, according to NBIM data.
These divestments are dwarfed by the single divestment of Caterpillar, in which the sovereign wealth fund had NOK21.8bn in shares and bonds at the end of June.
In its recommendation to NBIM to exclude Caterpillar – which is the third-largest component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average – the Council on Ethics said: “The basis for this case is that bulldozers manufactured by Caterpillar are being used by Israeli authorities in the widespread unlawful destruction of Palestinian property.”
A spokeswoman for NBIM confirmed to IPE that the banning of Caterpillar was the first time NBIM had excluded a non-Israeli company for links to Israel’s war and occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.
The revelation by a Norwegian newspaper early this month that the GPFG held a significant stake in Bet Shemesh, a firm supplying fighter jets used to bomb Gaza, left the government scrambling – weeks away from a general election.
Following intervention from finance minister Jens Stoltenberg, NBIM and the Council on Ethics took swift action, including several divestments of Israeli companies and cancelling the contracts of its Israeli asset managers.
Amid the furore around the GPFG, Kiran Aziz, head of responsible investments at the asset management arm of Norwegian municipal pensions firm KLP, made the point on LinkedIn that KLP had made an active decision earlier this year not to invest in Bet Shemesh Engines – because of the risk of violations of fundamental human rights and humanitarian law.
KLP divested from Caterpillar last summer, saying this was “due to the risk of contributing to violations of human rights and international law in the West Bank and Gaza”.
IPE has contacted Caterpillar for comment.
No comments yet