Divesting from Destruction. Investing in peace and sustainability

Over the next ten years the nuclear armed countries plan to spend over 1 trillion US dollars on the nuclear arms race. Those manufacturing the nuclear weapons are making a fortune, and are actively promoting the nuclear arms race. This webinar explores strategies and actions to reverse the financial interests in nuclear weapons through actions to cut nuclear weapons budgets, end investments in nuclear weapons corporations, increase investments in peace and sustainability, and promote the economic value of peace.

Opening remarks

The opening remarks prepared by Coordinating Committee member, Tony Robinson, (United Kingdom), can be found here.

Speakers

Alyn Ware, (New Zealand/Czech Republic), Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, The Move the Nuclear Weapons Money campaign
Laurie Smolenski, (United States), Institute for Economics and Peace. The economic value of peace
Maevyn Davis-Rackerby, (United States), PNND. Cutting nuclear weapons budgets
Thies Kätow, (Germany), World Future Council/PNND. Nuclear weapons divestment by states, cities and pension funds
Rob van Riet, (Chile/Netherlands), WFC. Nuclear weapons divestment at federal level and connections with fossil fuel divestment

Powerpoint slides used during the webinar

Presentation by Laurie on the economic value of peace
Presentation by Maevyn on Cutting Nuclear Weapons Budgets in the US
Presentation by Thies on Nuclear Divestment City State level Germany

Links shared during the webinar

During presentation by Alyn Ware on the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money campaign

During presentation by Laurie Smolenski on the Economic value of peace

Global Peace Index 2019 (web version). Click here for the PDF version;
Nuclear policies impact Global Peace Index 2019 rankings;
Positive Peace Report;

During presentation by Maevyn Davis-Rackerby on Cutting nuclear weapons budgets

Hold the LYNE (Low Yield Nuclear Explosive) Act 2019 – Press release. Copy of the Act.
Prevention of an Arms Race Act 2019
INF Treaty Compliance Act of 2019
Smarter Approach to Nuclear Weapons Expenditure Act 2017 (It has not yet been introduced to the current congress);
National Defence Authorisation Act limits nuclear weapons programs;

During presentation by Thies Kätow on nuclear weapons divestment at federal, state and city levels

List of adopted nuclear divestment policies and legislation;
City Councillors propose nuclear weapons divestment for New York City
UN Global Compact adds nuclear weapons to its investment exclusion list;

During the presentation by Rob van Riet

During the Q & A session

On budget priorities: Poor people’s campaign Moral Budget (shared by Jackie Cabasso). It calls for an annual reduction of $350 billion in US military spending
On role of women: Women Legislators Lobby (USA). Nearly 1/3^rd of female US legislators are members. Campaigns for reduction in nuclear weapons and conventional military budgets. See also PNND women leaders statement for the International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament, and WILPF statement to the 2019 NPT Prep Com.
On role of mayors: See US Conference of Mayors resolutions: a) Calling on the Administration and Congress to Step Back From the Brink and Exercise Global Leadership in Preventing Nuclear War (2018) and b) Calling on All Presidential Candidates to Make Known Their Positions on Nuclear Weapons and to Pledge U.S. Global Leadership in Preventing Nuclear War, Returning to Diplomacy, and Negotiating the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (2019)
On war tax resistance. See https://nwtrcc.org/
Current endorsers of the campaign: www.nuclearweaponsmoney.org/endorsers/

Additional information from Move the Nuclear Weapons Money campaign

Move the Nuclear Weapons Money is a global campaign to cut nuclear weapons budgets; encourage divestment from companies manufacturing nuclear weapons and their delivery systems; and reallocate these budgets and investments to meet economic, social and environmental need – such as ending poverty, protecting the climate, supporting renewable energy, creating jobs, and providing adequate healthcare, housing and education for all.

List of companies manufacturing nuclear weapons and/or their delivery systems;
Opportunity costs of nuclear weapons spending – what the money could instead support;
List of nuclear weapons divestment legislation and policies adopted by cities, states and federal governments;
News updates and articles on the campaign;
Count the Nuclear Weapons Money action, October 24-30, 2019;
Campaign endorsers and quotes;
Links to other resources and initiatives including Divest-Invest, Divest from the War Machine, Don’t Bank on the Bomb, Global Campaign on Military Spending and the Go Fossil Free divestment campaign.

Additional information provided by the Don’t Bank on the Bomb Campaign

For those that want information on the companies behind the nuclear bomb: Producing mass destruction: Private companies and the nuclear weapons industry.

This report provides full profiles of 28 companies connected to the production of nuclear weapons. Most of those companies are involved in the US arsenal, as the contracting system in the US is quite transparent. However, there is also information on companies connected to the French, Indian and UK arsenals. The full report also contains brief profiles of 11 other companies, including a Chinese company, whose nuclear weapon related activities are outside the scope of the research but are still relevant while painting the picture of the global nuclear weapons industry.

For those that want up to date information about the investments: Shorting our security- Financing the companies that make nuclear weapons

When examining the top companies involved in the nuclear weapon industry, we found over 748 billion USD invested in these companies by 325 financial institutions between January 2017 and January 2019. You can also use our site to search directly for your bank to see what kind of investments they have.

For those interested in what’s happening with city divestment, those discussions can be quite interesting (to untangle the webs of financing), but there is a great new campaign in Philadelphia, lots of action across Scotland and the UK, and of course the impressive successes with efforts in Santa Barbara. If anyone wants, we launched a city guide last year, and are collecting best practices and lessons learned to ensure that those engaging on this issue have the best tools possible at their fingertips.