Nicolai Tangen, CEO Norges Bank Investment Management, refers to a press conference on the annual results of its company in 2024 at Norges Bank in Oslo, Norway, January 29, 2025.
Ole Berg-Rsten AFP Getty images
The Norway government is under the growing pressure to allow the country 1.8 trillion dollars The Sovereign Property Fund invests in some defensive companies, and opposition parties describe a long -term ban as “illogical” in the current security landscape.
Norwegian Government Global Pension Fund, The world's largest sovereign wealth fundHe failed to take rates in companies that produce key elements of nuclear weapons from the early 2000s.
Under Ethical guidelinesThe fund was also excluded from investing in companies involved, among others, in the production of cluster ammunitions, painkillers and tobacco.
The Central Legal Conservative Party in the country claims that the time has come for the government to increase the ban on accepting rates in some defense companies, citing Russian invasion of Ukraine and “significant security” of countries such as China in recent years.
“We are currently in the face of the most serious security crisis since World War II. There is an urgent need for increased investment in the Western defense industry to protect our own safety and safety of our allies,” said CNBC Tina Bru, deputy leader of the Conservative Party.
In her opinion, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre should try to change the ethical framework of the country's property fund to make sure that companies perceived as necessary for Western security are not excluded.
A spokesman for the Norway of the Ministry of Finance refused to comment when he contacted CNBC, saying that the government would first answer a similar question from the Norwegian Parliament.
Protesters with Palestinian flags during a demonstration outside the headquarters of the Norges Bank in Oslo, Norway, on Thursday, March 27, 2025.
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The fund was previously excluded by the British defense contractor BAE systems Due to the production of key elements of nuclear weapons and US defense contractor Lockheed Matin Corp Because of cluster ammunition.
“In the West, critical weapons are purchased from companies that are currently excluded from the investment of the Petroleum Fund. It is illogical that the Norway of the Pension Fund prohibits investing in the same companies that the government acquires by the state budget,” said Bru.
The Labor Party in the Center of Norway is expected Govern yourself until new parliamentary elections will take place in September. The government of the coalition in the country has fallen earlier this year in connection with the energy guidelines of the European Union.
The founder of NATO, Norway is not part of the EU, but works closely with the block as a member of a wider European economic area.
Various defense supplies
A debate on how Norway a wealth fund should react to the evolving security landscape, appears during higher defense expenses and Increasing industry profits When governments react to increased geopolitical risk.
Defense stocks were usually excluded from portfolios based on environmental, social and managing factors (ESG) due to ethical concerns about the Association of Sector with War.
However, in recent months it seems that ESG fund managers have become more and more comfortable with possession of defense companies.
Spokesman Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages the property fund, refused to comment when asked about calling to change the ethical guidelines of the fund.
The Store of the Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr gives a speech at the Equinor conference, a Norwegian international energy company, in Oslo, Norway, November 26, 2024.
Thomas Fure AFP Getty images
One of the largest investors in the world, a sovereign property fund in Norway, was founded in the 1990s to invest the surplus of revenues in the country and the oil gas. Until now, the fund has Put the money In over 8,650 companies in over 60 countries around the world.
Hans Andreas Limi, the legislator of the right -wing progress party in the country, recently introduced the account of private members in order to remove the ban on the nuclear weapon of the Fund, in accordance with Financial Times. He apparently He described the ban as “hypocritical”.
Ida Kassa Johannesen, head of the commercial ESG at Saxo Bank, said that the Norwegian Ministry of Finance should not affect political pressure to raise the ban on the nuclear weapon of the fund.
“Ultimately, the Norwegian Ministry of Finance, which is responsible for supervising the works performed by Norges Bank Investment Management (which is responsible for the management of the Fund), has trust and decides on the next direction of action,” said Johannesen CNBC via e -mail.
“The Ministry of the Ministry should not be swayed by public opinions, but rather the best interest of the fund's beneficiaries (Norway and its current and future generations) as well as the provisions and regulations governing the fund's mandate,” she added.