ICAN Report
Report Shows Two-fold Increase in Company Contracts Awarded Globally
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) today released the Squandered: 2021 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending Report, which found a staggering $6.5 billion increase in nuclear weapons spending in 2021, and a doubling of new company contracts, compared to the previous year 2020.
In 2021, the year before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, nine nuclear-armed states spent $82.4 billion on their nuclear weapons, more than $156,000 per minute, an inflation-adjusted increase of $6.5 billion from 2020.
In two weeks, countries will gather in Vienna for the international summit on nuclear weapons since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The First Meeting of States Parties to the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, from 21-23 June, is expected to adopt a joint declaration and concrete commitments for states parties to implement the treaty.
You can read the report here: https://www.icanw.org/squandered_2021_global_nuclear_weapons_spending_report
“This report shows that nuclear weapons don’t work. Nuclear-armed states increased spending by $6.5 billion in 2021 and couldn’t prevent a nuclear-armed aggressor from starting a war in Europe,” said Alicia Sanders-Zakre, Policy and Research Coordinator at ICAN. “This is why we need multilateral disarmament more than ever. The first meeting of states parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Vienna 21-23 June could not come at a better time.”
Susi Snyder, Financial Sector Coordinator at ICAN added “The nuclear weapons industry received at least $32 billion for nuclear weapons related work in 2021. A couple dozen companies, and their boards, have a vested interest in keeping nuclear weapons around forever. That’s why they spend millions on lobbyists, funding think tanks, and their board members sit in on elite foreign policy discussions, so that the contracts will continue to 2070, and beyond. Fortunately, not everyone is buying what they’re selling, and investors are coming together to support the TPNW at the upcoming meeting of States Parties, because they know an industry that profits from weapons of mass destruction is not a sustainable or secure investment.”
Countries include:
The United States
China
Russia
The United Kingdom
France
India
Israel
Pakistan
North Korea
Companies analyzed in the report include:
Aerojet Rocketdyne
Airbus
BAE Systems
Bechtel
Boeing
Constructions Industrielles de la Méditerranée (CNIM)
Charles Stark Draper Laboratory
General Dynamics
Honeywell International
Huntington Ingalls Industries
Jacobs Engineering
L3 Harris Technologies
Leidos
Leonardo
Lockheed Martin
Northrop Grumman
Peraton
Raytheon Technologies Corporation
Safran
Textron
Think tanks include:
Atlantic Council
Brookings Institution
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Center for New American Security
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Fondation pour la recherche stratégique (FRS)
French Institute of International Relations
Hudson Institute
International Institute of Strategic Studies
Observer Research Foundation
Royal United Services Institute
Stimson Center
About ICAN : The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is a coalition of non-governmental organizations in one hundred countries promoting adherence to and implementation of the United Nations nuclear weapon ban treaty. This landmark global agreement was adopted in New York on 7 July 2017. The campaign was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2017, for their “groundbreaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition” of nuclear weapons. More information about ICAN can be found at: www.ICANw.org
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