Norway panel backs nuclear arms exception for $2.2tn fund

Norway’s government received a commission proposal on Thursday, Oct. 15, to let its more than $2.2 trillion sovereign wealth fund buy some nuclear-weapons stocks, AFP reported through The Local Norway.

The proposal matters because the Oil Fund owns stakes in more than 7,000 companies and about 1.5% of listed equities worldwide, while its current nuclear-weapons rules exclude 14 companies.

Those exclusions cover companies that develop or make nuclear weapons or related components. AFP named Airbus, BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Safran among the groups currently barred under the fund’s ethical guidelines.

The recommendations came from a commission chaired by Svein Gjedrem, a former central bank governor. Norway’s government ordered the review after criticism of fund investments in groups accused of having a role in the war in Gaza, AFP reported.

The commission said the fund could invest only in nuclear-arms makers “based in a nuclear-weapon state as defined in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and allied with Norway.”

“This means that several British, French and American arms manufacturers will be brought back into the fund,” Gjedrem said as he presented the 434-page document.

The report was submitted to Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg, a former NATO secretary general. Stoltenberg cited “the paradox” that “the Norwegian fund cannot invest in companies that could be crucial for Norway's security,” at a time when Russia is increasingly threatening nuclear use and China is expanding its arsenal, AFP reported.

The proposal would not remove all ethical limits. The commission said exclusions tied to biological and chemical weapons, landmines, cluster bombs, coal extraction, tobacco and cannabis production would remain unchanged.

It also recommended changes to the Ethics Council, the independent body that evaluates companies against the fund’s standards. The council would continue assessing the risk of serious violations but would lose the ability to directly recommend exclusions, a power already suspended during the review.

The fund, commonly known as the Oil Fund, is managed by Norway’s central bank. Its size gives changes to its exclusion list relevance for global defence contractors and for investors watching how security policy and environmental, social and governance restrictions interact.

The recommendation remains politically contested. AFP reported that some parties, especially on the left, have criticised the report, with one Green official calling it “utterly senseless.”

The government must send the recommendations through a broad consultation before presenting its conclusions to parliament for a vote next spring. The source report did not give a specific consultation deadline or parliamentary vote date.

Before next spring, the checkable step is the broad consultation on the commission’s recommendations, including whether the government narrows, adopts or rejects the proposed NPT-and-allies test for nuclear-weapons producers.

Next spring, parliament is due to vote on the government’s conclusions. The observable outcome is whether lawmakers approve a rule change that could return British, French and American nuclear-arms manufacturers to the fund’s investable universe.

Source: AFP article published by The Local Norway, Oct. 15, 2026