Norway pension fund sells $69m stake in Caterpillar over alleged involvement in Gaza destruction

Norway’s largest pension fund has cut ties with Caterpillar due to the US bulldozer company’s alleged contribution to the construction of illegal settlements and other human rights violations by Israel’s armed forces in the West Bank and Gaza.

KLP took the decision to divest its $69m stake in the Texas-based industrial manufacturing group earlier this month after Caterpillar failed to provide satisfactory assurances that it was taking action to reduce the risk of its equipment being used by the Israeli military against Palestinians in violation of international law.

“For a long time, Caterpillar has supplied bulldozers and other equipment that has been used to demolish Palestinian homes and infrastructure to clear the way for Israeli settlements,” said Kiran Aziz, head of responsible investments at KLP.

“It has also been alleged that the company’s equipment is being used by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) in connection with its military campaign in Gaza following the Hamas attack on 7 October last year. Since the company cannot provide us with assurances that it is doing anything in this regard, we have decided to exclude the company from investment,” Aziz added.

Caterpillar did not immediately return requests for comment.

KLP is a $90bn pension fund managing retirement assets for more than half a million Norwegian city, health and other public sector workers.

In recent years, KLP has excluded around 200 companies from its portfolio due to evidence of human rights violations, environmental harms, corruption and other “unacceptable risks” – often in response to pressure from rights groups, harmed communities and the Norwegian government.

In 2021, KLP excluded telecom equipment company Motorola among other corporations linked to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Allegations about Caterpillar in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories – which has been ruled illegal by the ICJ – go back decades .

Reports centre on the Israeli military retrofitting Caterpillar D9 bulldozers with armoured driver cabins and weapons. The converted bulldozers have allegedly been used in demolishing houses and other infrastructure to facilitate the construction of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, according to reports by multiple rights groups and journalists.

In one recent example, Caterpillar’s D9 bulldozers were reportedly used by the IDF in connection with attacks on the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarm in the West Bank in July 2023 . The UN estimates that around 700,000 people now live in illegal settlements in the West Bank. Norway has always maintained that this occupation is illegal under international law.

More recently, Caterpillar’s equipment has also allegedly been used by the Israeli military in Gaza, where at least 38,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Hamas 7 October attack left almost 1,200 people in Israel dead.

In December, rights groups and journalists accused the Israeli army of using bulldozers to bury wounded Palestinian civilians alive outside the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza following a nine-day siege.

In January 2024, the international court of justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza . In May, the ICJ ordered Israel to halt its assault on the southern city of Rafah, which Israel has ignored, forcing more than 1 million Palestinian refugees to flee again, enduring dangerously high temperatures without adequate shelter, water or food.

Last week, Caterpillar was among several companies mentioned by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as potentially “complicit” in Israel’s war on Gaza. “These companies, by sending weapons, parts, components and ammunition to Israeli forces, risk being complicit in serious violations of international human rights and international humanitarian laws,” the UN experts said.

International legal experts have said Israel is committing domicide – the mass destruction of homes and living conditions to make a territory uninhabitable – and ecocide .

Despite months of back-and-forth – and the steadily worsening situation – KLP said that Caterpillar was unable to demonstrate that it had made any real changes to reduce the risk that its equipment wasn’t being used to violate humanitarian law and cause harm to Palestinians.

“Although Caterpillar has shown itself willing to engage in a dialogue with KLP, the company’s responses failed to credibly substantiate its ability to actually reduce the risk of violating the rights of individuals in situations of war or conflict, or of violating international law,” said Aziz.