Norwegian pension fund divests from companies selling to Israeli military

KLP, Norway’s largest pension fund, volition nary longer bash concern with 2 companies, 1 from the US, the different German.

Norway’s largest pension fund, KLP, has said that it volition nary longer bash concern with 2 companies that merchantability instrumentality to the Israeli subject due to the fact that the instrumentality is perchance being utilized successful the warfare successful Gaza.

The 2 companies are the Oshkosh Corporation, a United States institution mostly focused connected trucks and subject vehicles, and ThyssenKrupp, a German concern steadfast that makes a wide enactment of products, ranging from elevators and concern machinery to warships.

“In June 2024, KLP learned of reports from the UN that respective named companies were supplying weapons oregon instrumentality to the [Israeli army] and that these weapons are being utilized successful Gaza,” Kiran Aziz, the caput of liable investments astatine KLP Kapitalforvaltning, said successful a connection provided to Al Jazeera.

“Our decision is that the companies Oshkosh and ThyssenKrupp are contravening our liable concern guidelines,” the connection said.

“We person truthful decided to exclude them from our concern universe.”

According to the pension fund, it had investments worthy $1.8m successful Oshkosh and astir $1m successful ThyssenKrupp until June 2025.

KLP, founded successful 1949 and the country’s largest pension fund, oversees a money worthy astir $114bn. It is simply a nationalist pension money owned by municipalities and businesses successful the nationalist sector, and has a pension strategy that covers astir 900,000 people, mostly municipal workers, according to its website.

Vehicles and warships

KLP said that it had been successful interaction with some companies earlier it made its determination and that Oshkosh “confirmed that it has sold, and continues to sell, instrumentality that is utilized by the [Israeli army] successful Gaza”, mostly vehicles and parts for vehicles.

ThyssenKrupp told KLP that “it has a semipermanent narration with [the Israeli army]” and that it had delivered 4 warships of the benignant Sa’ar 6 to the Israeli Navy successful the play November 2020 to May 2021.

The German institution besides said it had plans to present a submarine to the Israeli Navy aboriginal this year.

When asked by KLP what checks and balances were made erstwhile it came to the usage of the instrumentality the companies delivered, KLP said some Oshkosh and ThyssenKrupp “failed to papers the indispensable owed diligence successful narration to their imaginable complicity successful violations of humanitarian law”.

“Companies person an autarkic work to workout owed diligence successful bid to debar complicity successful violations of cardinal quality rights and humanitarian law,” said Aziz.

Previous divestments

This is not the archetypal clip that the pension money has divested from companies linked to imaginable quality rights abuses.

In 2021, KLP divested from 16 companies, including telecom elephantine Motorola, that it concluded were linked to amerciable Israeli settlements successful the occupied West Bank.

The pension money said determination was an “unacceptable hazard that the excluded companies are contributing to the maltreatment of quality rights successful situations of warfare and struggle done their links with the Israeli settlements successful the occupied West Bank”.

That aforesaid year, KLP besides said it was divesting from the Indian larboard and logistics radical Adani Ports due to the fact that of its links to the Myanmar subject government.

Last summer, KLP also divested from US steadfast Caterpillar. In an sentiment portion for Al Jazeera, the KLP’s Aziz wrote that Caterpillar’s bulldozers acquisition adjustments successful Israel by the subject and section companies, and are subsequently utilized successful the occupied Palestinian territory.

“The changeless usage of these weaponised bulldozers successful the occupied Palestinian territory has led to a bid of quality rights warnings from United Nations agencies, and nongovernmental organisations implicit the past 2 decades astir the company’s engagement successful the demolition of Palestinian homes and infrastructure,” she wrote.

“It is truthful intolerable to asseverate that the institution has implemented capable measures to debar becoming progressive successful aboriginal norm violations.”

The latest determination builds connected a bid of akin decisions among respective ample concern funds successful Europe that person chopped ties with Israeli companies for their engagement successful either the warfare successful Gaza oregon due to the fact that of links to amerciable Israeli settlements successful the occupied West Bank.

In May, Norway’s sovereign wealthiness fund, the largest successful the world, said it would divest from Israel’s Paz Retail and Energy due to the fact that of the company’s engagement successful supplying infrastructure and substance to amerciable Israeli settlements.

This came aft an earlier determination successful December past twelvemonth to merchantability each shares it had successful different Israeli company, Bezeq, for its services provided to the amerciable settlements.

Other pension funds arsenic good arsenic wealthiness funds person also, successful caller years, distanced themselves from companies accused of enabling oregon cooperating with Israel’s amerciable concern of the West Bank oregon its warfare connected Gaza.

In February 2024, Denmark’s largest pension money divested from respective Israeli banks and companies arsenic the money feared its investments could beryllium utilized to money the settlements successful the West Bank.

Six months later, the United Kingdom’s largest pension fund, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), said it would merchantability disconnected each its investments linked to Israel due to the fact that of its warfare connected Gaza. The fund, which totals astir $79bn, said it would merchantability its $101m worthy of investments aft unit from its members.