Swedish Pension Fund AP 4 announced on 15 January 2019 that it would no longer hold shares in companies associated with the production of nuclear weapons. Previously, the Swedish pension funds AP 1-4 only excluded nuclear weapon associated companies from countries outside the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. This announcement recognises that nuclear arsenal modernisation taking place among all nuclear armed countries is contrary to the intention of the Non Proliferation Treaty. On 17 January, AP1 issued a similar announcement.
Josefin Lind, Secretary General of Swedish Physicians Against Nuclear Weapons welcomed the announcement “To stop investing in companies linked to nuclear weapons is an important step in the work for a nuclear-free world. We now call on Pension Funds 1-3 to follow this positive example.”
The previous exclusion policy applies to all assets managed by AP1-4. External asset managers are also required to comply with the policy, and it is expected that this policy adjustment will be implemented in the same fashion.
Earlier Don’t Bank on the Bomb research identified investments from AP 4 in the following nuclear weapon producers: BAE Systems, Boeing, Fluor, General Dynamics, Honeywell International, Huntington Ingalls Industries, Jacobs Engineering Group, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon.