In Vienna from 21 to 23 June 2022 is held on the First Conference of the Parties to the Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Treaty (Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons – TPNW). On this occasion, Etica Sgr presented an Investors’ Declaration calling for the financing of the production and maintenance of nuclear weapons arsenals to be stopped.

The TPNW is the first international agreement to ban a wide range of activities related to nuclear weapons including use, threat of use, development, possession and storage. In addition, it promotes assistance to victims of nuclear weapons and the remediation of nuclear-contaminated environments. The Treaty was adopted by the United Nations in 2017 and entered into force on January 22, 2021. In Vienna the countries that joined (to date it has 86 signatories and 62 States parties, Italy is not among them) in what is the first international conference to discuss its practical application. Also present were delegates from the governments of some countries that have not signed the TPNW, as observers, but not from Italy. «Since its foundation in 2000, Etica Sgr has excluded nuclear, cluster bombs, incendiary weapons or anti-personnel mines from the portfolios of mutual investment funds proposed by companies producing conventional weapons – commented Luca Mattiazzi, General Manager of Etica Sgr. “This initiative is part of Etica Sgr’s greater commitment to broadly direct the flows of sustainable investments”. On 19 June Aldo Bonati, Corporate Engagement and Networks Manger, participated in the seminar “Financing the future, not the bomb” as part of the Nuclear Ban Forum event organized, also in Vienna, by the Swiss association International Campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons (ICAN), which fights for the ban on nuclear weapons, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. On this occasion, Aldo Bonati reiterated: “We are here because we believe it is important that responsible investors also clearly say” no to nuclear weapons “and that they are able to dare, through their investment choices, a reference to guide and push Countries to make more meaningful choices on the issue. The commitment of Etica Sgr stems from the collaboration with the mobilization “Italy, think again”, which has been dealing with these issues since 2016 ».

On 21 June Ugo Biggeri, President of Etica Sgr, spoke at the meeting by reading the “Investors’ declaration”, written by Etica Sgr together with ICAN. The statement encouraging treaty member states to declare that state-owned enterprises fully integrate the TPNW ban on all forms of assistance during their business and to ensure that treaty obligations extended to state and non-state actors (including industry private) within their jurisdictions. Etica Sgr has solicited broad support from asset managers and financial companies, the declaration signals to companies, policy makers and other parties involved the basic expectations of investors in relation to the entry into force of the Treaty. The full text of the is public (in English): Investor Statement at the first meeting of States parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

“The no to nuclear weapons is in our opinion an important message at a time when Western governments are moving towards rearmament and some investors who declare themselves” sustainable “to reconsider even weapons as admissible, as they can invest in defending themselves from external aggressions – he declared Ugo Biggeri (photo), President of the company. “In Etica Sgr, since its inception, we have tried to translate the rejection of war as a means of resolving international disputes into financial practice”. In 2020, countries with nuclear weapons spent $ 72.6 billion on arsenals, which amount to over 12,000 warheads. In these two years the situation is not