"Norway Pension Giant’s ‘Ethical’ Investment Policy Placed on Hold by Parliament", 25 November 2025

Norway’s parliament ordered Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages the country’s $2.1 billion sovereign wealth fund, to postpone any ethics-related investment decisions for almost a year. The Storting said the pause will be implemented while a committee conducts a review of the ethical framework for the Government Pension Fund Global.

“This review is necessary to safeguard the pension fund and key considerations,” Minister of Finance Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement. “We must find a balance between the principles the fund is meant to uphold.”

The Storting has formed a committee to examine the current standards for excluding and divesting holdings from the GPFG, which are based on the recommendations of Norges Bank’s Council on Ethics. After it conducts the review, the committee will propose changes to the pension fund’s ethical framework in a report due by October 15, 2026.

Until then, Norway’s ministry of finance said, NBIM should conduct “enhanced due diligence” for investments “where the conditions for the fund’s investments in a country may change significantly over a short time period, for instance in the event of armed conflict.”