Norway Big Tech Holdings Weren’t at Risk, Ex-Ethics Adviser Says

Norway was wrong to pause ethics-linked divestments to protect the big tech holdings of its sovereign wealth fund as those investments were not at risk of being sold, according to a former member of the ethics council advising the $2 trillion investor.

Cecilie Hellestveit, who last week resigned from the Council on Ethics in protest against Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s surprise move to pause its work, said the decision by the minister and lawmakers “had no root in reality.”

Cecilie Hellestveit

Photographer: Erik Hannemann

Speaking in an interview, Hellestveit pushed back against Stoltenberg’s concerns that the council’s advice to divest from US ...