OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s largest pension fund, KLP, said on Thursday it would no longer invest in 14 major weapons makers and their suppliers, including Raytheon Technologies Corporation and Rolls-Royce.
The companies, based in Britain, China, France, Israel, India, Italy and the United States, have been excluded because they produce a certain type of weapons – mostly involving nuclear arms – that violate fundamental humanitarian principles, KLP said in a statement.
“The criterion applies mainly to nuclear weapons and cluster munitions, as well as anti-personnel mines,” KLP said.
The other 12 companies are Babcock International Group, China Shipbuilding Industry Co, Dassault Aviation, Elbit Systems, General Dynamics Corp, KBR Inc, L3Harris Technologies, Larsen & Toubro Ltd, Leidos Holdings, Leidos, Leonardo SpA and Thales SA.
Two of the companies – Elbit Systems and Leonardo – have already been excluded by KLP for other reasons.
The move by KLP follows a review of the ethical criteria, expanding the definition to include makers of key components used for these types of weapons.
KLP, which currently has $90 billion worth of assets under management, said the exclusion would be effective from November 2021.
(Reporting by Victoria Klesty in Oslo; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
