Norwegian pension fund dumps Bolloré for human rights violations at plantations

The world’s largest pension fund has revealed that it sold its shares in the Bolloré group, a powerful French conglomerate, due to unresolved concerns about “serious human rights violations” at a plantation company partly owned by the group.

The decision was made public on 26 February 2026, in a report from the Norwegian Bank Investment Management (NBIM).[1] The report states that after years of dialogue with Bolloré SE and Compagnie de l’Odet SE on “their management of human rights risks, sexual violence, harassment and labor rights abuses” at the plantations of the Luxembourg-based company Socfin, in which the Bolloré group holds a “significant share”, NBIM decided to exclude them from its investment portfolio.

The violations and abuses have long been denounced by affected communities. The Socfin group, which was founded in 1909, controls 370,000 hectares for the production of palm oil and rubber in ten countries of Africa and Asia. In many of these countries, Socfin acquired the lands without community consultation or consent, and the communities feel their lands were robbed from them. The plantations often surround villages and pollute their water sources, such that villagers cannot grow their own food crops. When villagers gather fallen palm nuts or speak out about their conditions, they are regularly harassed. For women villagers and girls, sexual violence and even rape by plantation labourers or security forces is a common occurrence.

In 2024, after years of complaints from communities and civil society, Socfin hired the Swiss-based Earthworm Foundation to investigate these issues. The results were appalling: 59% of the complaints were said to be founded, to one degree or another, and 85% of these were judged to be the responsibility of the company.[2]

Norway’s move follows a similar decision by Switzerland’s largest pension fund, BVK.[3] The Swiss spent three years discussing these issues with the Bolloré group, which argued that it held no responsibility for what happens at the Socfin plantations, despite being a major shareholder and sitting on the board of directors of several Socfin holdings and plantation companies.

“It’s about time that investors take action against Socfin and Bolloré,” Félicité Ngo Bissou of the Association des Femmes Riveraines de Socapalm Edéa in Cameroon said. “For too long, the Bolloré group has claimed it’s not responsible for the abuses we face around the Socfin plantations and as a result, the abuses have continued. This cannot go on.”

Rizal Assalam of the Transnational Palm Oil Labour Solidarity, in Indonesia, agreed. “For us, Norway’s decision, like that of the Swiss, means that someone is listening to the communities and the workers, even if it’s not Bolloré,” he said.

For rights groups in Europe, Norway’s move puts EU decision-making to shame. “The European Commission invited Socfin last week to be a key partner and speak at the EU-Liberia Business forum in Brussels,” said Indra Van Gisbergen of Fern.[4] “Yet Liberian communities are to this day denouncing Socfin’s lack of action on their long standing complaints!”[5]

NBIM runs Norway’s pension fund, which currently has US$ 2.1 trillion in assets, making it the largest in the world. At the outset of 2025, it held US$ 91 million worth of shares in Bolloré SE.[6] These were sold by the end of the year.[7]

Emmanuel Elong, Synergie Nationale des Paysans et Riverains du Cameroun (SYNAPARCAM): +237 674529387; +237 674484238; [email protected]

- Aceh Wetland Forum, Indonesia

- Adansi Community, Ghana

- Alliance for Rural Democracy, Liberia

- Association des Femmes Riveraines de la Socapalm Edéa, Cameroon

- Bunong Indigenous People Association, Cambodia

- Collectif pour la défense des terres malgaches - TANY, Madagascar / France

- Fern, Belgium

- FIAN Belgium

- FIAN Switzerland

- GRAIN, international

- Green Advocates International, Liberia

- HEKS/EPER, Switzerland

- Klang Phol, Bunong community member in Busra, Cambodia

- Kros Suk, Bunong community member in Busra, Cambodia

- Les Soulèvements de la terre, France

- Look Green Care Foundation, Nigeria

- OnEstEnsemble, Cameroon

- Pantau Gambut, Indonesia

- Réseau des Acteurs du Développement Durable, Cameroon

- Rettet den Regenwald - Schweiz / Rainforest Rescue Switzerland

- Rettet den Regenwald, Germany

- Riverains Ensemble, Cameroon

- Sawit Watch, Indonesia

- School of Democratic Economics, Indonesia

- SOLIFONDS, Switzerland

- Synergie Nationale des Paysans et Riverains du Cameroun

- Tem Phaern, Bunong community member in Busra, Cambodia

- The Oakland Institute, United States

- Transnational Palm Oil Labour Solidarity Network, Indonesia

- Women’s Network Against Rural Plantation Injustice, Sierra Leone

- Yayasan Insan Hutan Indonesia

- Yayasan Pusaka Bentala Rakyat, Indonesia

[1] NBIM, “Responsible Investment: Government Pension Fund Global 2025”, 26 February 2026, page 51, Responsible investment 2025, https://www.nbim.no/en/news-and-insights/reports/2025/responsible-investment-2025/

[2] Collective press release, “Investigation shows Socfin/Bolloré plantations harm communities in Africa and Asia”, 1 July 2025, https://farmlandgrab.org/32929. See also Sheridan Prasso, “The Rubber Barons”, Bloomberg, 16 April 2025, https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-socfin-plantations/. In November 2025, Socfin ended its partnership with Earthworm Foundation.

[3] BVK, “Menschenrechte sind nicht beliebig dehnbar” in Nachhaltigkeitsbericht 2024, https://bvk.ch/fileadmin/dam/forms/Geschaeftsbericht_Kontext_Update/BVK_Nachhaltigkeitsbericht_2024.pdf

[4] See EU-Liberia Business Forum, Panel on “Investment Opportunities in Liberia’s Agriculture and Forestry Sectors”, 24 February 2026, https://community.eu-africabusinessforum.eu/event/liberia-eu-business-forum/planning/UGxhbm5pbmdfNDMyMDA4OQ

[5] See Claudius T. Greene Jr, “Gov’t Cracks Down on Wage Violations at LAC”, Liberian Observer, 3 March 2026, https://www.liberianobserver.com/news/gov-t-cracks-down-on-wage-violations-at-lac/article_ce3050b9-b6f5-4c1a-8dd5-94cf84637e81.html; Blamo N. Toe, “Communities Reject Socfin Progress Claims, Cite Ongoing Abuses”, The Liberian Investigator, 12 January 2026, https://liberianinvestigator.com/news/communities-reject-socfin-progress-claims-cite-ongoing-abuses/; and Verity News, “Liberia’s Plantation Communities Slam Socfin Reports as ‘False Progress,’ Say Abuses by SRC, LAC Continue Unchecked”, https://verityonlinenews.com/liberias-plantation-communities-slam-socfin-reports-as-false-progress-say-abuses-by-src-lac-continue-unchecked/

[6] NBIM equity holdings at 31.12.2024, https://www.nbim.no/api/investments/v2/report/?assetType=eq&date=2024-12-31&fileType=xlsx

[7] NBIM equity holdings at 31.12.2025, https://www.nbim.no/api/investments/v2/report/?assetType=eq&date=2025-12-31&fileType=xlsx