Weapons & Defence: is it time to reconsider weapon investments?

Welcome to Money for Change, a podcast from Triodos Bank! In this weekly podcast, the Impact & Economics department will share insights and challenges related to our core question: how can we transition to a more balanced and just world? Each episode, we’ll be joined by Hans Stegeman, Triodos Bank’s Chief Economist. Together, we’ll dive into various topics and current affairs related to this overarching question, exploring ways in which these necessary changes might be realized. Since the founding of Triodos Bank, we have maintained a clear stance on investing in weapons: we simply do not invest in weapons, and we believe the entire private sector should refrain from doing so. However, in recent years conflict has intensified in various parts of the world with with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the outbursts of violence in Sudan, Gaza and Lebanon. A dditionally, the newly inaugurated president of the United States Additionally, the newly inaugurated president of the United States has made war threat in relation to Greenland and Panama. In l ight of these developments, we have invited Daan Spaangaren, senior investment strategist at PME (the pension fund for the metal high-tech sector) as guest to discuss investing in weapons. PME takes a different view on investing in weapons from Triodos. We’ll discuss the ethical and economic considerations involved in investing in weapons. And of course deal with the question; should private financial institutions invest in weapons? Enjoy listening to this episode of Money for Change and don’t forget to rate & follow us! If you have any comments or questions about this episode, feel free to contact us using the form on our webpage: https://www.triodos.com/en/podcasts/money-for-change Host: Sanne van Keulen Fixed guest: Hans Stegeman Guest: Daan Spaangaren -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Triodos’ position towards weapon investments explained; https://www.triodos.co.uk/articles/2024/why-the-financial-sector-should-never-invest-in-weapons#:~:text=Triodos%20Bank%20does%20not%20invest%20in%20weapons%2C%20never,why%20investing%20in%20weapons%20should%20not%20become%20normal