Ethical Investment and Banking Questions Overview

For further clarifications, definitions and examples of the assessment criteria used in this section, see the part of the page titled Ethical Investment and Banking Full Breakdown

1a. Publicly available Ethical Investment Policy

Score 10%

1b. Additional elements to policy:

Score 15%

2a. Commitment in policy to screen out investments in fossil fuel companies

Score 20%

2b. Commitment in policy to screen out investments in arms companies

Score 10%

2c. Commitment in policy to screen out investments in border industry companies

Score 20%

2d. Commitment in policy to screen out investments in Companies in violation of international law

Score 5%

3. Renewable energy Investment and/or Impact Investment

Score 2%

OR

Community-owned renewable energy and/or renewable energy projects and/or in environmental and social justice solutions that have measurable, real-world impact on-campus or in the local community

Score 5%

4. Fossil Free Investment Portfolio

Score 5%

5. Commitment to engage with its banking providers with whom it holds cash deposits not to contribute to the financing of fossil fuel expansion

Score 5%

6. Transparency and accessibility of Investment Information

Score 5%

Ethical Investment and Banking Full Breakdown

Ethical Investment Policy

1a. Does the institution have an active, robust and publicly available Ethical Investment Policy that is clearly approved and reviewed by a relevant individual/committee within the university?

Score 10%

Essential

The policy should:
1. Apply to the full scope of the institution’s investments
2. Be clearly approved by a relevant Head of Department, member of the Board of Governors, equivalent body, or relevant committee
3. Contain evidence that it has been updated/reviewed within the last 5 years

Clarifications

• All three prerequisites must be fulfilled to receive marks on this question. E.g. no points can be awarded if a policy is found that applies to the full scope of the institution’s investments and has been approved by a relevant Head of Department, member of the Board of Governors, equivalent body, or relevant committee, but appears not to have been updated/reviewed within the last 5 years.

• People & Planet will look for the policy on the university website. The inclusion of the policy within a wider university policy, such as a Treasury Policy, is sufficient. A brief statement on the website about the university’s investment approach is not. If there is no policy, no points will be awarded.

• If no policy is found, the marker will move on to the Ethical Banking question as points cannot be scored on the rest of the Ethical Investment Policy section without a valid Ethical Investment Policy.

• Policy approval by the relevant individual/committee needs to be explicit within the policy itself for marks to be gained. I.E. the policy needs to clearly state who is responsible for the policy.

• People & Planet expect Ethical Investment Policies to apply to all investments managed by the institution itself and form part of the instructions provided to external fund managers investing on their behalf. I.E. it must be clear that the institution's investment processes allow for the policy - and any exclusions within it - to be meaningfully fulfilled.

• The investments of external pension scheme managers that the university contributes to are not expected to be included.

• If the university employs a third party fund manager to invest on its behalf it is still required to have its own Ethical Investment Policy. The Ethical Investment Policy of a fund manager will not score points.

• Guidance for universities with no investments: People & Planet will look for an investment policy on the university’s website. Points can only be scored if a policy is found. A signatory to NUS and People & Planet’s Fossil Free Declaration is not sufficient to score points on this question. Fossil Free Declaration universities are expected to pass and review ethical investment policies to score on this criteria. See an example from Nottingham Trent University.
  
  

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Specifics within the policy

1b. Additional scores will be added for each of the following areas included in the policy:

Score 15%

• The university commits to including student representation on its investment committee(s). 5%

• There are clear ongoing opportunities for the wider student body and staff community to engage with the policy. 5%

• There is a commitment, on an annual basis, to publicly disclose/list all investments being held in different companies across all asset classes and the market value of those holdings (at minimum, listing what percentage of the university’s investment holdings is invested in different sectors), with a link to or explanation about where that list can be found. 5%
  OR
  If the university does not currently invest, an explanation about where the list would be found in the future. 5%

Clarifications

• No points will be awarded if these specifics are not included within the Ethical Investment Policy itself. Reference to them on other parts of the university’s website will not suffice. Researchers will only refer to the Ethical Investment Policy to score the university on this criteria. We need the specifics within the policy itself so it is assured, not subject to change and easy for members of the university body to locate - and therefore make use of.

• Where a university does not have an investment committee, marks will be awarded for student representation on the finance committee(s). The policy should be clear about which committee holds/would hold responsibility for the oversight of investments.

• Student representation on the investment committee must be at the membership level for a policy to score points. As per our criterion for Student and Staff Engagement we do not accept observer only status. Student representation means voting power.

• Best practice for ‘clear ongoing opportunities for the wider student body and staff community to engage with the policy’ will outline a clear process for someone to follow. For example, “This policy will be made public. Any staff and/or students who wish to raise concerns about this policy, or the current or future investments of the university, should contact XXXXX. XXXXX will then raise the concern(s) with members of the committee responsible for investment oversight, who will then invite concerned staff and/or students to the next meeting to discuss the issue further and determine actions to be taken.”

• The investments list might take the form of a financial report and/or investment portfolio provided by the university’s fund manager for the most recent financial year.

• Guidance for publicly listing all investments annually for universities with no investments: See an example of best practice on this question from Cardiff Metropolitan University* on page 4.

• Guidance for universities with no investments: People & Planet will score policies which detail the above criteria for the scenario of the university making investments in the future.

NB

• *People & Planet has included exemplary policies and documents following requests made in previous sector feedback for the People & Planet University League. These were deemed strong models at the time of writing (March 2025), but this does not exempt them from the 2025/26 assessment period or predict their scores in the 2025/26 People & Planet University League.

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Policy exclusions for specific sectors

2. Commitment, in Policy, to Screen out Specific Sectors:

Score 55%

2a. Fossil fuel companies

Score 20%

Fossil fuel companies: partial commitment (i.e. coal and tar-sands). 5%

OR

Fossil fuel companies: full commitment to screen out all fossil fuel companies. 20%

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2b. Arms companies

Score 10%

Arms companies partial commitment (i.e. controversial weapons - such as those banned under international treaties like cluster munitions - or sales to regimes with a clear record of human rights abuses). 5%

OR

Arms companies: full commitment to screen out all arm companies. 10%

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2c. Border Industry companies

Score 20%

Border Industry companies: partial commitment to screen all companies involved in border security and control, detention and/or deportation. 5%

OR

Border Industry companies: full commitment to screen out all Border Industry companies. 20%

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2d. Companies in violation of international law

Score 5%

Commitment to screen out corporations complicit in the violation of international law. 5%

Clarifications

• All screening commitments must be incorporated into an Ethical Investment Policy that meets the requirements of 1a. Universities that do not score on question 1a cannot score on any questions on industry exclusions.

• For universities to score on any of the above exclusions, the Ethical Investment Policy needs to be clear that any exclusion(s) applies to the full scope of the university’s investments. To this end, we recommend the policy does not use confusing terminology that isn’t clearly defined - for example, if you’re a university that uses the word ‘direct’ in your policy please see our guidance on the use of this word and the impact that might have on how your university is scored. Universities will not be awarded points for unclear exclusions unless they have confirmed the meaning of the policy wording with People & Planet in previous communications and/or have outlined their definition within the policy itself. Universities can explain their meaning through the University League appeals process if points are not awarded but they believe they should have been.

• Guidance for universities with no investments and those who have never invested in the above sectors: points can still be scored by stating in an Ethical Investment Policy that meets the requirements of 1a, that they do not currently and never will invest in the sectors specified in scoring criteria 2a-d.

• Guidance for universities with no investments: signing the Fossil Free Declaration is not sufficient to score points on question 2a. As with all other universities Fossil Free commitments must be enshrined in an Ethical Investment Policy.

• By ‘all fossil fuel companies’, we accept the Carbon Underground 200 as the absolute bare minimum.

• An example of a full exclusion of arms companies (2b) is the SIPRI arms industry list.

• People & Planet defines the border industry (2c) as the People & Planet Border Industry Divestment List. A partial commitment involves the screening of all companies involved in any of the following activities: border security and control; detention; deportation. A full commitment also includes the screening of companies involved in the following activities: border surveillance; advisory and support.

• A commitment to screen out “corporations complicit in the violation of international law” means the exclusion of any corporations that have been accused of, taken to court for, or are listed by the United Nations (‘UN’) as, violating international law or UN resolutions in the past 5 years. This might include but is not limited to complicity in international human rights violations such as child labour and torture, undertaking business in settlements declared illegal or undetermined by the United Nations, undertaking business in territories where peoples are being denied their inalienable right to self-determination, or violations of international environmental law. We would expect anyone responsible for investing the university's funds - such as their external fund managers - to undertake due diligence in their research of companies being invested in in this regard. The example links included are not exhaustive, but are a means to provide guidance.
  
  

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Impact investment / (re-)investment of divested funds

3. Does the university’s Ethical Investment Policy include a commitment to invest in renewable energy companies or funds that support the development of renewable infrastructure and/or social justice solutions that have measurable, real-world impact?

Score 2%

OR

Does the university’s Ethical Investment Policy include a commitment to invest in community-owned renewable energy and/or renewable energy projects and/or in environmental and social justice solutions that have measurable, real-world impact on-campus or in the local community?

Score 5%

Clarifications

• The Ethical Investment Policy must include specific exclusions around fossil fuel investments to be able to score on impact investment / (re-)investment criteria. I.e. if there is no divestment related exclusion, then there can be no impact investment / (re-)investment points as the former is a prerequisite for the latter.

• What we mean by (re-)investment into community-owned renewable energy: the prioritisation of (re-)investment into renewable energy projects that facilitate energy democracy through community ownership. This might be in the university’s local community or in the Global South. For example, organisations such as the Yansa Group who work with “Indigenous, fisherfolk, and peasant communities to facilitate their collective welfare and social advancement,” through the provision of “technology, capital, training and management [...] to develop and maintain community controlled wind farms.” Or Energy4All is a green energy co-operative that seeks to support the transition through the creation of renewable energy cooperatives and raises share offers that universities can invest in.

• What we mean by a commitment to (re-)investment into community-owned renewable energy projects on-campus: the prioritisation of (re-)Investment into on-campus renewable energy projects that facilitate energy democracy through community ownership. For example, projects such as Solar SOAS. Whilst this wasn’t a direct reinvestment of divested funds, the project built from SOAS’ 2015 Fossil Free commitment, and we encourage divested universities to put divested money aside for investment into similar projects.

• What we mean by (re-)investment into social justice solutions: the prioritisation of (re-)investment into funds, companies or projects aimed at boosting particular social causes and/or addressing particular social injustices. For example, the University of Edinburgh has a range of positive investments which include both Big Issue Invest - which supports social enterprises, charities and similar with loans - and the Social and Sustainable Housing Fund - which offers safe and affordable accommodation to those in the local community who are rough sleepers or experiencing homelessness.

• Guidance for universities with no investments: People & Planet will look for an impact investment / (re-)investment commitment in the university’s investment policy. Points can only be scored if an impact investment / (re-)investment commitment within the policy is found. Universities can state in policy that any future investments in energy would be in renewable energy/low carbon/community renewable energy/renewable energy projects on campus. This ensures that any future investment approach is guided by institutional policy. This approach is the same for universities that never invested in fossil fuels, but do have investment portfolios.

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Documentation clearly confirming the fulfilment of the full Fossil Free exclusion in the university’s Ethical Investment Policy

4. Are all of the university’s investment portfolio(s) - whether managed by the university, an external fund manager or a combination of both - free of fossil fuel companies across all asset classes?

Score 5%

Clarifications

• If the university did not score points for a full fossil fuel exclusion on 2a - i.e. they only scored for a partial commitment or scored zero - the marker will move straight to question 5 as points cannot be scored on question 4 without full points being awarded on 2a. IE scoring full marks on 2a is a prerequisite for scoring points on question 4.
• Guidance for universities with investments that have scored points for a full fossil fuel company exclusion on question 2a: researchers will look for a formal document on the relevant area of the university’s website which officially confirms the Fossil Free status of their investment portfolio(s). If the university manages their own investment portfolio(s) this document will need to be a formal university document that is approved by the relevant party within the institution. If the university outsources their investing to an external fund manager the same applies, with the formal document needing to be clearly approved by the relevant party at the fund management firm. If the university uses a combined approach, two documents confirming the university’s Fossil Free status will be required (one from the university investment team and one from the external fund manager investing on the university’s behalf).
• Any formal documents confirming the university's fully Fossil Free investment status will need to have the following four qualities for us to use it as an accountability mechanism and award points to the institution:

1. The university/ fund managerʼs written confirmation that investments being made by/on the universityʼs behalf exclude fossil fuel companies and that the current portfolio(s) is/are Fossil Free across all asset classes.
2. The university’s/fund managerʼs logo.

3. The document should be approved by the name or job title of the relevant internal or external Fund Manager. Approval can also be demonstrated by a university department or committee.

4. A date within the past 2 years (we recommend requesting this from fund managers each July as in line with the finalisation of university annual accounts).

We have created a template document for guidance. Universities and/or fund managers do not need to use this exact phrasing to score points on this criteria, it can be tailored to each individual context, as the institution sees fit.

• Guidance for universities with no investments that have scored points for a full fossil fuel company exclusion on question 2a: a simple statement on the relevant part of the university’s website confirming the university holds no investments will fulfill the requirements.

• Documentation with unclear wording - e.g. using ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’ as terms without clear definitions of what they mean - will score zero points on this criteria. See section 2’s clarifications (“Commitment, in Policy, to Screen out Specific Sectors”) for further guidance. Full Fossil Free commitments will only be scored as fulfilled if fossil fuel companies are not being invested in across the full scope of the university’s investment portfolios, i.e. across all asset classes.

• We recommend the university hosts evidence relating to this criteria on the same part of the website that hosts the other documents relevant to the Ethical Investment and Banking section of the University League. This is to make it easy for researchers to find and will lessen the chance of the university needing to make an appeal.

• The bare minimum exclusion criteria we use to determine whether a university has successfully fulfilled their full Fossil Free commitment is the exclusion of the Carbon Underground 200.

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Ethical Banking

5. Does the university publicly commit to engage with and lobby the banks with whom it holds cash deposits not to contribute to the financing of fossil fuel expansion?

Score 5%

Clarifications

• This commitment can be separate to, or held within, an ethical investment, banking or treasury policy, or similar. Whichever policy it is within must be clearly approved by a relevant Head of Department, member of the Board of Governors, equivalent body, or relevant committee and contain evidence that it has been updated/reviewed within the last 5 years.

• Universities who are participating in the Request for Proposals will score points for this question.

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Transparency and Accountability

6. Does the university website collates information in one place about investment practices and procedures in such a way that facilitates greater transparency and access to information for students, staff and the general public?

Score 5%

1% will be awarded for each of the following being easily accessed through a clearly identifiable section of the university website:

6a. Ethical Investment Policy. 1%

6b. Annual list of investments. 1%

6c. List of committee members that oversee investments. 1%

6d. Meeting minutes that provide updates on investment policy reviews and divestment/investment status if relevant. 1%

6e. Ethical Banking Policy. 1%

Clarifications

• If any of the information already exists on another part of the university website, way-finding links to the correct pages should be provided. E.g. “The list of committee members that oversee investments can be found on the governance pages of the university website here (with link embedded).”

• The annual list of investments should disclose the amount being held in each company that makes up the university’s portfolio(s) and the market value of each of those holdings. At minimum, we will accept a listing of what percentage of the university’s investment holdings is invested in different sectors.

• Guidance for publicly listing all investments annually for universities with no investments: See an example of best practice on this question from Cardiff Metropolitan University* on page 4.

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