The head of the Council on Ethics for Norway’s $2.3trn Government Pension Fund Global said on 28 October that resignation would follow if a proposal to curtail the watchdog’s authority is implemented, Reuters reported. Svein Richard Brandtzaeg wrote in a newspaper column that the council would lose its leader if “the fund’s ethical flagship is turned into a toothless internal advisory group”.
The objection is to a report handed to the finance minister, Jens Stoltenberg, on 15 October by a government-appointed commission chaired by Svein Gjedrem, a former governor of Norges Bank. The report, NOU 2026: 11, was unanimous. It would keep a professionally independent council that assesses the risk of companies contributing to serious ethical breaches, but the council would no longer recommend what to do about them. That choice, between active ownership and exclusion, would pass to Norges Bank, which manages the fund.
What the commission proposes
Engagement would come first. As a general rule Norges Bank would try to change a company’s behaviour as an owner, and only if that failed would the fund sell, unless divesting could threaten its ability to remain a broadly diversified global fund. Reuters reported that the commission wants special care taken with the largest companies, since selling them would have a bigger impact on the fund’s value. More than half of the fund’s assets are in America, and its ten largest holdings, all technology companies, account for over 20% of its equity value.
The council’s risk assessments could be withheld from the public where the bank judges that disclosure would hinder its mandate or harm the fund’s financial interests, although the names of excluded companies and the reasons would still be published. The commission sets out two ways to appoint the council: by Norges Bank, or by the finance ministry on the bank’s proposal.
The most visible change concerns weapons. Producers of nuclear weapons would stay excluded unless they are based in a nuclear-weapon state under the Non-Proliferation Treaty that is allied with Norway. Current rules keep the fund out of Airbus, Boeing, BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin, Reuters reported. “This means that several British, French and American weapon companies can be reinvested in,” Gjedrem told a press conference. The overhaul follows parliament’s decision last year to pause ethics-based divestments, weeks after the Trump administration criticised the fund for selling Caterpillar.
Why other asset owners should pay attention
Norway’s exclusions travel. The commission itself notes that the fund’s decisions and the council’s recommendations have been followed by many other investors. Asset owners that screen against the list, or treat the council’s published reasoning as free research, would receive a slower and thinner signal if engagement comes first and assessments stay private.
The nuclear carve-out is a sharper test. If it is adopted, an investor that copies Norway’s list mechanically would see large defence groups return to its eligible universe unless it sets its own policy.
Gjedrem argued that the fund’s growth has made it more visible abroad at a time when relations between nations are more fragmented and transactional, leaving it more vulnerable to threats. Where the bank and council read the guidelines differently, the bank would explain itself in its annual report and the ministry could settle the matter. Stoltenberg told Reuters the fund “will continue to be ethical, but it’s a question of how we are ethical in a changing world”. One critic is unpersuaded: Tale Hungnes of the advocacy group Future in Our Hands told Reuters the proposal would make the watchdog “toothless”.
What to watch
The finance ministry is expected to make its own proposals in spring 2027, and the minority Labour government would have enough support in parliament to pass the commission’s plan if it adopts it, according to Reuters. Under the interim guidelines, recommendations and decisions on observation and exclusion remain on hold until a new ethical framework is decided. Watch, too, whether Brandtzaeg follows through and which appointment model the ministry prefers.
Sources
- Norway wealth fund’s ethic watchdog chief threatens to resign, Reuters (via Euronext), 28 October 2026
- Norway wealth fund should invest in top arms makers, commission says in ethics overhaul, Reuters (via Euronext), 15 October 2026
- NOU 2026: 11 En ansvarlig, finansiell forvaltning: Det etiske rammeverket for Statens pensjonsfond utland, Norwegian Ministry of Finance, 15 October 2026
- Norges Bank could take on greater responsibility for Oil Fund ethics, NHH Norwegian School of Economics, 15 October 2026