Category: Uncategorized

  • Briefing for Finance Directors

    If you haven’t already done so, please consider writing to your Finance Director asking them to urge USS to divest from fossil fuels https://divestuss.org/2026/04/17/write-to-your-finance-director/ Over 100 UK universities have committed to divest their own funds from fossil fuels but are still investing their staff pension contributions with USS which is continuing to invest in fossil…

    ·

  • Campaign Update May 2026

    USS voting at bank AGMs Despite the many emails from members and the efforts of ShareAction, USS voted in favour of the boards at the AGMs of Santander, NatWest and HSBC.  All of these banks are backtracking on their climate commitments and continuing to invest in the exploitation of fossil fuels.  This appears to be…

    ·

  • Urge USS to vote against banks backtracking on climate commitments

    ShareAction are running a campaign to urge pension schemes to vote against the boards of banks that are backtracking on their climate commitments https://action.shareaction.org/page/186324/action/1?ea.url.id=9167363&forwarded=true We’ve heard from ShareAction that despite USS claiming to be worried about the Climate Crisis and saying they may vote against directors where “a company’s sustainability performance and/or disclosures fall short of expectations.”…

    ·

  • Write to your Finance Director

    Most UK universities have now divested from fossil fuels – but are continuing to pass their staff pension contributions on to USS, which refuses to do so. Thus, we are asking USS members to write to the finance director of their university (copied to the Pensions officer, and sent from their work address, if possible).…

    ·

  • USS response to our report on their coal investments

    We have received the following response: Thank you for your email outlining your concerns around the burning of thermal coal. Firstly, we want to make clear that we see climate change as a significant financial risk – one that’s increasingly reshaping the way we look at our investments and their long-term returns. That is why…

    ·

  • Coal: USS is still funding the dirtiest polluter!

    USS says it has divested from those companies that earn more than 25% of their revenue from thermal coal mining [1].  This makes a useful headline but how does it measure up in reality? A recent analysis shows that USS remains invested in 43 of the biggest coal companies in the world, amongst those listed…

    ·

  • Join ShareAction’s campaign to pressure big banks

    One of the (many!) disturbing trends of the past few years in the climate emergency is the backtracking of major banks on their climate targets and ambitions, and on their fossil fuel investment policies. This includes household names such as HSBC, NatWest and Santander. USS holds £ 36 million in Banco Santander Chile, £ 34…

    ·

  • A Brief Update on USS Investments (as of 31/12/2025)

    Every quarter USS publish a list of their investments.  This comprises a full list (with valuations) of their ‘top 100 public investments’ and a searchable database of their smaller public investments (without valuations). Due to the limited nature of the information provided it can be difficult to judge whether a company appearing as ‘new’ to the…

    ·

  • USS and the genocide in Palestine

    USS invests in over 40% of the companies supporting Israel’s genocidal actions in Palestine and their illegal occupation of Palestinian territory A recent ‘Don’t Buy into the Occupation’ report [1] has identified 104 companies that are involved in one or more of eleven “listed activities” that “contribute to the maintenance of Israel’s unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT),…

    ·

  • The People and Planet University Sustainability League 2025/26

    The largest student campaigning network in the UK, People and Planet have just produced their 2025/26 league. This is compiled annually and ranks 147 UK universities by sustainable and ethics criteria.  People and Planet and this league table has been very influential in getting 117 UK universities to divest their own funds from fossil fuels. And…

    ·