Norwegian pension giant excludes two US companies over nuclear weapons

The Norwegian Ministry of Finance has excluded two US industrial companies, Babcock & Wilcox and Jacobs Engineering Group, from the investment universe of the NOK3.8trn (€515bn) Global Pension Fund over their links to nuclear weapons production following a recommendation from the Council of Ethics.
The Ministry said that Charlotte, North Carolina-based Babcock & Wilcox operates state-owned plants that produce fissionable material for nuclear warheads.
And Pasadena-based Jacobs Engineering is now participating in a joint venture developing, testing and maintaining warheads.
But the Ministry also said that defence contractors BAE Systems of the UK and Italy’s Finmeccanica, who had been excluded due to their involvement in the production of nuclear weapons, have been re-included as potential investments.
The government said: “The companies have informed the Council on Ethics that the production of the ASMP-A nuclear missile by their joint venture company MBDA has ceased.“The Council on Ethics has therefore recommended that the exclusion be lifted, and the Ministry of Finance has decided to do so.”
US speciality chemicals firm FMC – which had been excluded because it was buying phosphate from the disputed Western Sahara region – has also been re-included. FMC has told the Council that it no longer buys phosphate from the region.
And German industrial giant Siemens – under observation since 2009 over corruption allegations – is no longer under scrutiny. The Council of Ethics had originally recommended the company’s exclusion in 2007 although the government decided instead to put it on watch.
This has now ended as Siemens’ anti-corruption measures have shown “both a willingness and an ability to transform the company’s culture”.
Following the changes, the fund now excludes a total of 54 companies. Link