The Norwegian Central Bank (Norges Bank) has announced it will exclude General Dynamics and Larsen & Toubro from its Government Pension Fund due to their involvement in nuclear weapons production. Earlier this year, the Pension Fund already excluded L3Harris Technologies for its involvement in nuclear-weapon related activities.
The decision is based on recommendations from the Council of Ethics in April 2024, which highlight the companies’ role in the construction of nuclear armed submarines (SSBNs).
General Dynamics is an aerospace and defense company, based in the US, with multiple contracts for work on the US and UK Trident nuclear missiles and the submarines designed to launch them.
Larsen & Toubro is an Indian technology, engineering, construction, manufacturing and financial services conglomerate who built the hull for India’s first nuclear armed ballistic missile submarine. In its recommendation to exclude Larsen & Toubro, the Council of Ethics considers that “the company is the only enterprise in India with the technology and equipment for this type of production. Since the construction of India’s SSBNs will continue for many years to come, it must be presumed that the company will engage in this activity for the foreseeable future.”
Our findings from 2023, as described in the report “Untenable Investments: Nuclear weapon producers and their financiers”, show that Norway’s Government Pension Fund still has substantial holdings in other companies involved in nuclear weapons, including Leonardo and RTX. The decision to divest from General Dynamics and Larsen & Toubro, following the earlier exclusion of L3Harris, is a welcome development and an important step towards excluding all companies involved in building weapons of mass destruction.
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