In February 2018, the Norwegian parliament asked the Norwegian government to review the consequences of becoming a state party to the treaty. In its report, the government said that Norway could not join the treaty “without coming into conflict with our membership in NATO”.

Several Norwegian cities, including Oslo, have called on the Norwegian government to sign and ratify the treaty. 

Six former prime ministers, foreign ministers and defence ministers of Norway – namely, Kjell Magne Bondevik, Bjørn Tore Godal, Thorbjørn Jagland, Eldbjørg Løwer, Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen and Knut Vollebæk – were among the signatories to an open letter in September 2020 calling on current leaders to “show courage and boldness – and join the treaty”.

Norway voted against a UN General Assembly resolution in 2019 that welcomed the adoption of the treaty and called upon “all states that have not yet done so to sign, ratify, accept, approve, or accede to the treaty at the earliest possible date”.

In 2016, Norway voted against the UN General Assembly resolution that established the formal mandate for states to commence the negotiations in 2017 on “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”.

In a “non-paper” sent to NATO members ahead of the vote, the United States “strongly encourage[d]” members, including Norway, to vote against the resolution, “not to merely abstain”. In addition, it said that, if the treaty negotiations do commence, allies and partners should "refrain from joining them”.

In March 2013, the Norwegian government hosted in Oslo the first in a series of major intergovernmental conferences on the “humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons”, which helped pave the way to the treaty negotiations in 2017.

The goal of negotiating a new legal instrument to outlaw nuclear weapons was a key aim of the Norwegian centre–left coalition government from 2010 until its defeat at the parliamentary election in September 2013.