DON'T BANK ON THE BOMB
Nuclear weapons remain the most destructive weapons ever designed. Weapons designed to devastate cities, to annihilate armies, and to vaporize populations. In July 2017, the majority of the world rejected these weapons thoroughly and unequivocally with the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Now, not only are nuclear weapons indiscriminate, inhumane and immoral, they are prohibited by international treaty.
The world is taking notice. The path towards the end of nuclear weapons is now clear and it begins with the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. As governments prepare to step onto that path, some in the private sector are showing the way.
Since the adoption of the nuclear ban treaty two of the five largest pension funds in the world announced changes in their relationships with nuclear weapon producers. ABP, the fifth largest pension fund1, recognising that investments in nuclear weapons have been a dilemma for some time, announced that due to “[c]hanges in society, also at an international level… nuclear weapons no longer fit in with our sustainable and responsible investment policy.” Within the next year, ABP will make sure that nuclear weapon producers no longer have access to their $500 billion asset pool (€405 billion).
Another $1,037 billion (€840 billion) are going to be kept out of more nuclear weapon producer hands, as the Norwegian Government Pension Fund (globally the 2nd largest pension fund3) announced the first changes to the application of its nuclear weapon policy since 2013, the year the Norwegian Government hosted the first conference on the Humanitarian Consequences of Nuclear Weapons. These exclusions reflect the understanding that nothing to do with the production of nuclear weapons is acceptable.
The Hall of Fame profiles financial institutions with comprehensive policies that prohibit any type of investment in any type of nuclear weapon producer. For the first time this year, a US financial institution joins the Hall of Fame, though the 22 institutions included are primarily European.
The Runners-up also provides an overview of policies that limit financial institutions from profiting from the production of nuclear weapons. The 41 institutions profiled show there is enough stigma against investing in nuclear weapons to develop some kind of policy, but there is still work to do to close the remaining loopholes. To make it clear just how much word is left to bring these policies into the Hall of Fame, these Runners-up are ranked according to policy comprehensiveness.
Next to the positive developments, there is also a negative nuclear weapons trend that cannot be ignored. The rhetoric around the possible use of nuclear weapons has increased dramatically, with threats of fire and fury flying like missile across the Pacific. This trend is not limited to rhetoric alone, as the Trump Nuclear Doctrine significantly seeks to expand nuclear weapons capacities in the US over the coming years, as well as lowering the threshold for use. While our research doesn’t show an increase in the number of investors involved, it does show that a number of investors have increased the amounts available to nuclear weapon producing companies. The top ten investors alone made 56 billion more available to the nuclear weapon producers, more than half of the total increase.
This report profiles 20 of the companies involved in nuclear weapon production. This selection of the top twenty is an attempt to identify the privately owned companies that are most heavily involved in the nuclear weapon industrial complex, it is not an exhaustive list. These companies have appeared in each Don’t Bank on the Bomb report since the project was first launched, and though there have been some name changes, this is the key red flag list.
Several companies producer key components for more than one nuclear arsenal. BAE Systems in fact, is engaged in the arsenals of France, the United Kingdom and the United States. Another ten companies are also connected to the Trident II (D5) missile system- a nuclear weapon design used by both the UK and the US, in addition to other nuclear weapon related activities they carry out. For some, this might spark questions about the actual independence of each arsenal.
When financial institutions invest in companies associated with nuclear weapon production, they provide the financing to maintain, test, and modernise nuclear weapons. In short: no money means no production. The financial sector has a role to play in ending nuclear weapons, and this report is a way to monitor progress and inspire action.
At the end of the day, it is only nine countries that have nuclear weapons. Nine untrustworthy countries that are gambling with the future by making their nuclear weapons more usable, developing new nuclear capabilities, and announcing more and more possibilities for the actual use of their nuclear forces. Compelling change from these nine countries will take a variety of approaches. One of those is pressuring the private companies involved in their arsenals through the financial sector. Those financial institutions currently seeking to profit from nuclear weapons are, like the handful of countries that still believe in the utility of nuclear weapons are increasingly isolated and stigmatized.
Financial institutions have a choice, either to contribute to the end of nuclear weapons, or to provide the financing that will allow nuclear weapons to end us.
To download the full report, please click here.