Don't Bank on the Bomb is winning

Posted: 28th December 2018

Don’t Bank on the Bomb is winning! From Germany to California, our campaigners have been pressuring all kinds of financial institutions into divesting from nuclear weapons.

We need your support to keep up the momentum.

2018 Highlights [1]:

The Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global – worth over $1000 billion – excluded companies involved in producing nuclear weapons from investment.
Germany’s Deutsche Bank expanded its policy to exclude companies with clear direct to controversial weapons companies, including those involved in nuclear weapons
Major Belgian bank KBC committed to excluding all nuclear weapon producers from investment
Cities also got on board: the Californian City of Ojai resolved not to engage in any investments related to nuclear weapons.
ABP, the 5th largest pension fund in the world, ended its investments in producers of nuclear weapons.

Help power more wins in 2019

With support from ICAN, our partners maintain the world’s only index of private financing for the development of nuclear weapons. The yearly Don’t Bank on the Bomb report is one of the most important advocacy tools and has a direct impact on banks and financial institutions.

Since 2014, banks, insurers, government pension funds and other financial institutions have invested $525 billion in companies involved in the production, maintenance and modernization of nuclear weapons [2]. It’s a mind-boggling, absolutely unacceptable amount of money. But it’s only a drop in the global financial markets and for banks, better alternatives are emerging daily. The choice is simple – invest in the future or invest in an industry that can end the future for everyone.

Thanks to the 2017 adoption of the Nuclear Ban Treaty, many financial institutions are waking up to the fact that any investment related to nuclear weapons carries an unacceptable reputational and financial risk. Our campaigners are taking that opening and levering information and campaigning to help them adopt more ethical investment policies that exclude nuclear weapons. These commitments, in turn, send a message to governments that the financial sector is getting ready for the Nuclear Ban Treaty to become international law, and if they want to remain on the right side of history, they need to join the Treaty too.

We’re raising $25000 to empower ICAN campaigners around the world.
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Susi, long-time ICAN campaigner and lead of the Don’t Bank on the Bomb project loves working on this issue: “Together with banks and pension funds we’re upsetting the status quo on weapons investments- and showing clearly that there’s a better way to secure the future. Next year, we’re going deeper into the companies that make the bombs to make sure that any investors know who they are dealing with.”

Martin, co-founder of ICAN Germany and a driving force behind Deutsche Bank’s commitment has loved seeing the impact of his work this year: “One of the things I’m proudest of this year is getting Deutsche bank to recognize that it is not acceptable to invest in and profit from companies that are involved in the production of these weapons!” In 2019, he and his colleagues from ICAN Germany will be stepping up their efforts to make it clear to all German institutions – banks and government alike – that the vast majority of Germans find everything related to nuclear weapons unacceptable [3]

2019 is going to be a big year for all of us at ICAN: we want to reach the 50-country-mark that will bring the Nuclear Ban Treaty to enter into force, and we want to make sure that everybody – banks, governments, media – understand that nuclear weapons are unacceptable. We want to cut off their funding, and end the thin veneer of acceptability and culture of fear that keeps nuclear weapons in place. Will you help us do so?

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Thank you so much for being part of this campaign.

Daniel Högsta
Campaign Coordinator
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons