Today, Edge Hill University has publicly announced their commitment to exclude both border industry and fossil fuel extractor companies from their investment portfolios. This move makes them the third UK university to commit to both the Divest Borders and Fossil Free campaigns simultaneously - following in the footsteps of Staffordshire University and the University of South Wales in 2024.
This victory was uncovered by People & Planet University League research, which found that Edge Hill University had developed an Ethical Investment Policy, with clear exclusions for companies involved in both the border and fossil fuel sectors, as well as arms and those in violation of international law. The People & Planet University League is the only comprehensive and independent league table of UK universities ranked by environmental and ethical performance. The 2025-26 dataset is due to be launched in December.
Students have led campaigns centred around divesting for justice for over a decade, securing 117 wins on Fossil Free and seven on Divest Borders to date. Students at Edge Hill have been campaigning since March 2024, using a range of tactics from securing petition signatories and flyering on campus, to making links with the Students Union and wider People & Planet network.
It is thanks to generations of People & Planet organisers - as part of the wider student movement - that we witness another university connect migrant justice and climate justice through their investment strategy. Students have played a pivotal role in the formation of a justice-based narrative which aligns the same exploitative systems that allow the fossil fuel industry to appropriate land, resources, and labour for profit, and that use the border industry to maintain a relationship of extraction with the Global South. Fossil Free and Divest Borders recognise that solutions can only be found when we link these struggles, which is why together the campaigns have been calling for UK universities to stop profiteering from the growing business of deportation flights, fossil fuels and detention centres.
Both Divest Borders and Fossil Free are led by People & Planet which, since its inception in 1969, has been supporting students to fight for social and environmental justice on their campuses. The student-led charity began its flagship Fossil Free campaign in 2013 and Divest Borders in 2021. Both campaigns make use of the tactic of public divestment announcements to delegitimise their target industries. These challenge the social licence of these companies to continue with their destructive operations.
The Divest Borders campaign demands that UK universities exclude the companies complicit in maintaining the UK’s violent border industry as an act of solidarity with those impacted by its operations, which includes harms such as detention, deportation and the disproportionate surveillance of racialised communities. The Fossil Free campaign demands fossil fuel industry exclusions in recognition of the industry’s role in the climate crisis, and in solidarity with the frontline and Indigenous communities experiencing the sharp end of the injustices wrought by fossil fuel operations and climate impacts.
André Dallas, Co-Director: Migrant Justice at People & Planet, said: “The exploitation of people and the planet is driven by the same forces that prioritise profit over principle. Recognising this deep interconnection, students have consistently urged universities to confront these injustices together and to lead with integrity.
Edge Hill University’s decision to divest simultaneously from the border industry and fossil fuel extraction represents a bold and necessary step toward a more just and sustainable future. This action demonstrates a genuine commitment to aligning financial practices with ethical values, setting a powerful example of what accountability in higher education can look like. We urge other institutions to follow suit and take meaningful action towards justice, solidarity, and responsibility.”