Norway Lawmakers Back Raising the Bar for Oil Fund Divestments

Norway’s lawmakers approved changing the ethics rules for the country’s $2.1 trillion sovereign wealth fund to reduce the risk of a forced divestment of holdings in global technology giants.

The ruling Labor Party voted against its parliamentary allies on Tuesday, with 85 lawmakers in the 169-member Stortinget backing the move to secure a change in the ethical guidelines of the world’s largest sovereign investor, and 17 voting against.

The measure paves the way for raising the bar to sell out of companies like Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com Inc. and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Such a step could be prompted by ...