An article by Dooley Harte ,Pension Official , University & College Union

The genocide in Gaza, the war in Ukraine and many other conflicts around the world can leave us feeling helpless as we watch humanity tear itself apart with acts of savagery we feel unable to properly comprehend.

However, since World War II, the United Nations has been held as the beacon for international human rights and international justice to right these wrongs. But its inability to do so recently with the destruction in Gaza has many worrying aspects. I want to look at just one of these – pension investments and complicit companies.

The UN view and company exclusions

The United Nations has produced numerous reports on the genocide in Gaza, with the most recent confirming four genocidal acts, stating “It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.” The International Criminal Court has made a series of determinations against those it considers responsible but yet many companies continue to do business with a complicit government and pension schemes continue to invest in these complicit companies.

Some pension schemes have taken a stand against genocide, one of the most recent being the €520bn ABP pension scheme in The Netherlands – ABP divests from UN-listed companies involved with Israeli settlements | News | IPE

ABP sold all its equity stakes in the 158 companies identified by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, September 2025, as contributing to illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It has also divested from Caterpillar, a supplier of armoured bulldozers to Israel’s army, who as detailed in the UN report ‘From economy of occupation to economy of genocide’, July 2025, have this year secured a further multi-million pound contract with Israel.

Why is USS not excluding complicity companies?

Many other schemes have taken similar action to divest from the Israeli government, or companies supporting it, but many continue to invest in war. So why is this. While my focus will be on the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), unfortunately it is not the only UK pension scheme with questions to answer.

Firstly, it is important to understand that with around £80bn in assets, USS is a Universal Owner and responsible investor – USS is a Universal Owner – but what does that mean? – and it has made decisions to divest before.

When Russia illegally invaded Ukraine in February 2022, USS stated, within a month, that there is “clearly a financial as well as a moral case for divestment” while another scheme, the TfL Pension Scheme, stated, “the trustee is instructing the fund’s investment managers to freeze all existing direct holdings in Russian-domiciled investments”.

And, as reported by Financial Times in August 2024 – UK’s biggest private pension fund dumps £80mn of Israeli assets – USS disposed of £80m of Israeli government bonds due to the financial risk they placed on the scheme’s investments.

University & College Union(UCU) has expressed considerable concerns that USS continues to invest with Israeli companies and companies supporting the Israeli government that have direct links with ongoing genocide.

In the recent UN Report by Francesca Albanese, USS invests in at least 19 of the 40-odd companies named in the report. These include Palantir Technologies who provide core defence infrastructure and its AI Platform, which allows real-time battlefield data integration for automated decision-making. And FANUC Corporation who provide robotic machinery for weapons production lines, including for Israel Aerospace Industries, Elbit Systems and Lockheed Martin.

Over 300 employers, mostly universities, have over 200,000 staff as active USS Scheme members. Many of these institutions have taken long-term decisions to align their investments with their institutional mission and in doing so to exclude holdings from governments who are complicit in war crimes or companies supporting these governments.

Despite all this, USS has continued to invest in Israeli institutions, Israeli companies and other companies complicit in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

USS still invests in at least nine companies on the ‘UN database of business enterprises in relation to Occupied Palestinian Territory’. It also still invests in a large number of Israeli banks and companies cited in a recent report produced by Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for Occupied Territories, entitled “From economy of occupation to economy of genocide”.

So why continue to invest in this government and these companies?

Is fiduciary duty clear?

This is a question that UCU has been asking for some time, and the response from USS can be summarised as – We have a fiduciary duty to get the best financial outcomes for our members. Unfortunately this seems to include profiting from genocide and crimes against humanity.

But I believe there has also been a failure by USS to properly explain to UCU and its members why UK financial law relating to fiduciary duty trumps UN international law?

What is also interesting to note is that fiduciary duty is being challenged.

In February 2024, the Financial Markets Law Committee set out its understanding on fiduciary duty and sustainability that showed pension trustees how in practice they can better succeed in taking decisions in the context of uncertainty over what ‘fiduciary duties’ require.

Recent consultations on the Pension Schemes Bill have argued for fiduciary duty to be clarified by Government in regulation and guidance providing the ability for schemes to take account of impacts from firms in which they invest, and to take account of member views on issues of importance such as climate and war.

Amendment NC17 to the Pension Schemes Bill has recently been tabled by Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP and is a vital reform clarifying the scope of pension schemes’ duties.

And there is the case in Canada where four young scheme members have taken legal action against the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, arguing that the country’s largest pension fund is breaching its fiduciary duty to protect the scheme and its members’ savings from climate-related risks and failing future generations of retirees – Young Canadians sue CPPIB over intergenerational climate risk | Netzeroinvestor

Also in September 2025, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign issued a legal notice to every council in England & Wales administering a Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) fund, outlining that they must take steps to divest from companies enabling and profiting from Israel’s genocide, military occupation and apartheid against Palestinians. Legal Notice Outlines Councils are Under an Obligation to Divest from Israel’s Crimes – Palestine Solidarity Campaign

All pension schemes, including USS, need to urgently review their investments and make the case for divestment before they face potential legal challenge that will force them to do so. And they also need to uphold international law and can no longer hide behind the cover of a vague interpretation of fiduciary duty so they can profit from genocide.

https://www.uss.co.uk/how-we-invest/responsible-investment