Recommendation on the exclusion of the company Textron Inc.
Letter | Date: 30/01/2009 | Ministry of Finance
The company Textron Inc. produces weapons which, according to the definition of the convention, must be considered cluster munitions. The Council on Ethics therefore recommends that Textron Inc. is excluded from the investment universe of the Government Pensions Fund – Global.
The Council on Ethics for the Government Pension Fund – Global submitted its first recommendation on exclusion of companies that produce cluster munitions on June 16th, 2005. The recommendation was based on the Council’s own definition of criteria which defined cluster munitions.
In 2008, an international convention to ban cluster munitions has been negotiated. The convention’s technical definition of what constitutes cluster munitions is largely in line with the criteria the Council applied in 2005, but in some areas it is more stringent. This implies that production of munitions which have previously not qualified for recommendation of exclusion may fall inside the treaty’s definition of cluster munitions. The Council on Ethics finds it appropriate to base future recommendations of exclusion on the definitions provided in the cluster munitions convention.
The company Textron Inc. produces weapons which, according to the definition of the convention, must be considered cluster munitions. The Council on Ethics therefore recommends that Textron Inc. is excluded from the investment universe of the Government Pensions Fund – Global.