Norges Bank’s Executive Board has excluded two companies from the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG).

AviChina Industry & Technology Co and Bharat Electronics were excluded due to “unacceptable risk that the companies are selling weapons to a state that uses these weapons in ways that constitute serious and systematic breaches of the international rules on the conduct of hostilities”.

The background for the decision was sales of light airplanes and other military material, respectively, to the military in Myanmar.

Norges Bank’s Executive Board made the decision based on recommendations from the Council on Ethics on 23 August 2022.

The Council on Ethics considered the investments against the ethical guidelines on companies where there is an unacceptable risk that the companies are contributing to or are responsible for the sale of weapons to states in armed conflicts where the weapons are used in ways that constitute “serious and systemic breaches of the international rules on the conduct of hostilities”.

Although the Executive Board has not conducted an independent assessment of all aspects of the recommendations, it said it was satisfied that the observation and exclusion criteria have been fulfilled.

When making its decision on whether to exclude a company, Norges Bank considers whether the use of other measures, such as the exercise of ownership rights, could be better suited.

In these cases, the Executive Board concluded that it was not appropriate to use other measures.

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