Norway urged to allow the Mega Wealth Fund to take rates from weapons manufacturers

Nikolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, speaks at a press conference on the annual results of his company for 2024 in Norges Bank in Oslo, Norway, January 29, 2025.

Ole Berg-Rusten | AFP | Gets the image

The Norway Government is under pressure to allow the country 1.8 trillion The sovereign richness fund is put into certain defense firms, and opposition parties describe a long -standing ban as “illogical” in the modern security landscape.

The Norway Government is a Global Petirement Fund the world’s largest fund of sovereign wealthIt has been forbidden to accept rates in companies that have been producing critical components for nuclear weapons since the early 2000s.

Under ethical recommendationsThe fund was also banned from investing in firms involved in the production of cluster ammunition, anti-personal mines and tobacco.

The country’s conservative party says it is time for the government to cancel the bid in some defense companies, citing the link A full -scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine and “significant transformation” of countries such as China in recent years.

“Currently, we are facing the most serious security crisis since World War II. There is an urgent need to increase investment in Western defense to ensure our own safety and our allies,” said CNBC by e -mail Tina Bru, deputy leader of the Conservative Party.

In her opinion, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Harry Stere should seek to change the ethical framework of the country’s wealth to make sure that companies that are considered as vital for the safety of the West are not excluded.

The press secretary of the Ministry of Finance of Norway refused to comment on the CNBC, saying that the government would first answer the similar question of the Norwegian Parliament.

On Thursday, March 27, 2025, participants of protesters with Palestinian flags during a demonstration near Norges Bank headquarters in Oslo, Norway.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Gets the image

Previously, the fund turned off the British defensive contractor Bae Systems Of the production firm key components for nuclear weapons and US defense contractor Lockheed Matin Corp Of -cluster ammunition.

“Throughout the West, critical weapons are purchased from companies that are currently excluded from the investment of the oil Fund. Implugically that the Norway’s Pension Fund is forbidden to invest in the same companies that govern the government through the state budget,” Br. said.

The left party of the Norway-Levo Party await manage yourself until new parliamentary elections are held in September. The country’s ruling government in the country has fallen apart early against the backdrop of the European Union’s energy directives.

NATO founder, NATO, is not part of the EU, but closely cooperates with the block as a member of a wide European economic zone.

Increase Defense shares

Discussion on how Norway’s wealth fund must respond to developing security landscape occurs during higher defense costs and Growth of profit in industry How governments respond to increased geopolitical risk.

Defense shares were usually excluded from portfolios based on environmental, social and management (ESG) factors on ethical problems about the association of the sector with war.

However in recent months the ESG Foundation has become Is increasingly comfortable with the content of defense companies.

Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages the wealth fund, refused to comment if he was asked about calls for reviewing the Ethical Recommendations of the Fund.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Hahr appears with a speech during the fall of 2024 equation conference, Norwegian multinational energy company in Oslo, November 26, 2024.

Thomas Fur | AFP | Gets the image

One of the largest investors in the world, a sovereign Norway wealth fund, was created in the 1990s to invest surplus income from the country’s oil and gas sector. Today the fund has Put the money In more than 8,650 companies in more than 60 countries.

Hans Andreas Limi, the right -wing party of the Scandinavian country, recently submitted a bill on private members to remove the fund’s nuclear weapon, reports Financial Times. He justify He called the ban “hypocritical”.

Ida Casa Johannesen, head of the commercial ESG in Saxo Bank, said the Norway Ministry should not affect political pressure to lift the ban on the fund’s nuclear weapons.

“Ultimately, the Norwegian Ministry of Finance, which is responsible for controlling the work done by Norges Bank Investment Management (which is responsible for the fund management), has trust duties and decide on the next course,” Johannene CNBC said.

“Actions in the ministry should not be sloped by public opinions, but rather the best interests of the beneficiaries of the fund (Norway and its current and future generations), as well as the laws and rules governing the mandate of the fund,” she added.

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