The announcement comes after a recommendation by the Norwegian Ethics Council last April to exclude these companies. The Ethics Council last revised the Norwegian Government Pension Fund exclusion guidelines in September 2022 (PDF).

General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) has at least $29 billion in contracts for work related to the US and UK Trident nuclear weapons system and the submarines designed to launch them.  The decision to exclude the company specifically cited “the company’s role in the construction of the USA’s strategic submarines.”

Larsen & Toubro is involved in the production of India’s first nuclear armed ballistic missile submarines, the INS Arihant and has designed and produced the launch system for the Dhanush nuclear-capable short range ballistic missile. The decision to exclude the company specifically cited it’s “role in the construction of India’s strategic submarines.”

This is the third nuclear weapons related exclusion made by the fund in 2024, after it decided to divest from L3Harris Technologies earlier in the year. However, the Fund continues to hold investments in other nuclear weapons producers, including RTX, which has a $2 billion contract with the U.S. government to produce new nuclear capable missiles.