United States of NorwayThe $1.8 trillion wealth fund’s ethics watchdog will next year investigate shoemakers, cryptocurrency firms and casino and gaming companies for possible ethical violations, which could lead to the fund making divestments.

The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, which has massive market power as it owns 1.5 percent of the world’s listed shares in 8,700 companies, operates under ethical guidelines set by parliament.

The fund’s ethical monitoring body, the Ethics Council, investigates companies in which the fund is invested to ensure that these guidelines are respected. If they are not, the council recommends that the fund divest these companies or put them on a public watch list.

“In 2025, the council will investigate the working conditions of a significant number of shoe manufacturers,” said a document prepared by the council and sent to the Treasury on 10 October.

“Companies have a direct responsibility for working conditions within their own operations and gross, systematic violations of workers’ rights can lead to exclusion from the fund.”

The plan, seen by Reuters, has not previously been reported. It did not name specific companies.

The Ethics Council told Reuters that “the 2025 work program indicates that these are issues that the Council will examine in 2025.

“It is not possible for the council to predict the outcome of the investigations,” it said in an email. Reuters