A government-appointed committee has recommended allowing Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global to invest in nuclear weapons. The proposal would weaken a longstanding ethical exclusion by introducing an exception for producers in allied nuclear-armed states.
The committee, chaired by former central bank governor Svein Gjedrem, presented its report to Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg on 15 October. Its recommendations would allow several companies based in the United States, France and the United Kingdom previously excluded over their involvement in nuclear weapons production, to return to the fund’s investment universe.
Svein Gjedrem and Jens Stoltenberg presenting the report. Photo: Ida Laingen/Norwegian Ministry of Finance.
Presenting the report, Gjedrem argued that protecting Norway’s security provided an ethical justification for nuclear weapons production.
“We therefore believe it is ethical to produce nuclear weapons, as long as it is within the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” he said. And Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg called the exclusion of companies potentially crucial to Norway’s security as a paradox - referring to being part of NATO and the nuclear umbrella.
“Norway is part of this strategy, but the pension fund cannot invest in the companies that make the strategy credible,” he stated at the press conference.
Norway would make itself complicit
“Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction, there is nothing ethical about them. The Norwegian oil fund is responsible for protecting the future for Norwegians. Investing in the companies manufacturing nuclear weapons, at a time of a nuclear arms race, makes it more likely that they will be used again. Norway would make itself complicit, knowingly, when nuclear weapons are used again.” said Melissa Parke, ICAN’s executive director after the press conference with Svein Gjerdrem and Jens Stoltenberg.
Just two years ago, the Norwegian capital Oslo proudly received Nihon Hidankyo, the organisation of Hiroshima survivors, as the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize Recipient, now the government presents nuclear weapons as “ethical”.
French nuclear push
The proposal also comes after France’s push to expand nuclear weapons cooperation across Europe. President Emmanuel Macron announced plans to increase the number of French nuclear warheads and launch a “forward deterrence” initiative with European partners. Norway joined discussions under that initiative in May. Though few details about the scope of this cooperation have been made public.
The report will now undergo public consultation, with submissions due by 15 January 2027. After reviewing the responses, the government plans to present its conclusions to parliament in its annual report on the management of the pension fund – which parliament then will discuss.
Parliament rejected a similar initiative just last year on 4 June 2025: A proposal from the Progress Party (Frp) to allow the fund to invest in weapons manufacturers producing components for nuclear weapons – was defeated by 90 to 12. No other party supported the proposal.