Danske Bank reauthorises nuclear weapons investments after 11 years

Denmark’s largest bank will invest in nuclear weapons technology in countries that have signed the treaty on non-proliferation, in a significant shift away from an 11-year blanket non-nuclear policy. The head of responsible investments at Danske Bank says the decision is due to “geopolitical changes”, while competitor Nordea maintains that such investments are ‘unfavorable’ for society.

Photo: Finn Årup Nielsen

Lena Hunter

Oct 30, 2024

Denmark’s largest bank, Danske Bank, has reauthorised investments in the production of nuclear weapons after prohibiting them for 11 years.

According to its latest exclusion list from June 2024 of companies that do not meet its criteria for responsible investment, Danske Bank can now invest in manufacturers of nuclear weapons parts for countries that have signed the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons (NPT).

In contrast, its exclusion policy in 2017 prohibited all investments in companies “involved in production of nuclear weapons”.

Speaking to the financial media Børsen, Head of responsible investments at Danske Bank Asset Management, Erik Eliasson, said the decision is based on recent geopolitical shifts.

“The geopolitical changes of recent years, including the increased threat from Russia, have contributed to us adapting our approach to the defense industry in relation to the society we are a part of,” he said.

The NPT is an international treaty which aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, promote peaceful uses of nuclear energy and achieve nuclear disarmament.

191 states have joined the treaty since its ratification in 1970, including the five nuclear weapon states: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, only India, Israel and Pakistan have not joined the treaty. In 2003, North Korea announced that it was withdrawing from the treaty.

In Danske Bank’s new ‘Arms & Defence Position Statement’, published in March 2024, it states that it “will not conduct business with a company if verified information exists that the company directly or through its supplies of bespoke components, systems or services is involved in the production of illegal weapons according to international law.”

At Danske Bank’s competitor Nordea, companies that manufacture or maintain nuclear weapons are still excluded from the investment list.

Nordea writes on its website that it “does not in any way consider such investments to be favorable for the investors or society as a whole”.

It also prohibits investments in anti-personnel mines, cluster munitions, and biological and chemical weapons.

These weapons are also still listed under the ‘controversial weapons’ section on Danske Bank’s exclusion list, however the bank writes:

“While the above-mentioned weapons [anti-personnel mines, cluster munitions, et al., ed.] are considered illegal according to international law, nuclear weapons, within the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are legal.”

Danske Bank originally decided in 2013 that from 2014 it would no longer reap profit from the production of nuclear weapons.

In an interview with TV 2 in 2013, then-head of Danske Bank’s responsible investments Thomas H. Kjærgaard said the policy was because the use of nuclear weapons would be a war crime.

“The reason for our decision and change of principle is clear. If a nuclear weapon is used, then it will cause an incredible calamity. At the same time, it will also be a violation of human rights and the laws of war,” he said.

In contrast to Danske Bank’s new stance, in February 2023 Denmark’s Climate Minister Lars Aagaard told Børsen that traditional nuclear power in Denmark was a no-go, adding “solar and wind are cheaper”.

“With the knowledge I have about costs and options – that is, what it will require from political discussions, authority capacity building, designation of areas and electricity infrastructure – I perceive it as completely off for Denmark,” he said in an interview with the media.

Denmark has remained largely anti-nuclear since passing a parliamentary resolution in 1985 that nuclear power plants would not be built in the country.

However, today two Danish nuclear start-ups – Seaborg Technology and Copenhagen Atomics – are independently developing molten salt reactors.

While these are ostensibly not intended for the domestic market, Copenhagen Atomics has said that its experiments will generate valuable experience in “design, construction, licensing, operation, and decommissioning” of salt reactor technology so that it can be deployed commercially.