Engagement process begins on ending pension fund investments linked to conflict and genocide

Today (Wednesday, 11 March), the council is starting an initial three-week engagement process with 300 randomly-selected members of the pension fund to help inform the questions that are to be asked in a full, six-week consultation launching in May.

This marks the latest step in ensuring that the pension fund – already a trailblazer in ethical investment – reflects the council’s values and priorities.

Already, the pension fund has withdrawn from investments in arms manufacturers. Since the start of the conflict in Gaza, action has also been taken to significantly lower the fund’s exposure to companies appearing on United Nations’ lists as engaged in activities raising human rights concerns in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The fund’s holdings in companies profiting from the conflict represent 0.1% of its total value. The consultation will ask for views from fund members on taking steps to lower that number to 0%.

These steps may include:

• Ensuring the fund does not invest in companies that contribute to breaches of international law and human rights, that produce or sell controversial weapons, are involved in corruption and financial crime, or that are involved in serious environmental degradation.
• Using a recognised provider of monitoring services to identify any companies in which the fund is investing in, or considering investing in, which raise human rights concerns.
• Working with Islington’s pension fund managers to divest from companies listed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
• Working with the London Collective Investment Vehicle – which will take over management of the pension assets of all 32 London boroughs from April 2026 – to allow Islington and other like-minded boroughs to invest in a fully-divested fund.
• Including the UN Genocide Convention – as well as the UN’s Guiding Principles of Business and Human Rights, the UN’s International Bill of Human Rights, the UN convention on genocide, the Geneva Conventions, and fundamental International Labour Organisation conventions - in the pension fund’s investment strategy.

The consultation is a necessary legal step towards considering further disinvestment. To ensure fund members can have their views, it will follow a two-step process.

From today, the council is running a three-week engagement exercise with 300 members of the pension fund to ensure that the consultation questions are understandable for members. These randomly selected members will be contacted directly, and their input will help ensure the consultation process – once launched - runs as smoothly as possible.

Once this process has been completed, the wider, six-week consultation with all fund members will open on 11 May, and the Pension Fund Committee will decide on next steps once this is complete.

Cllr Una O'Halloran, Leader of Islington Council said: “Our pension fund has been leading the way when it comes to ethical investment in recent years, as we work to ensure our fund reflects our values and our community.

“We’ve been utterly horrified by what we’ve seen in Gaza and other places affected by conflicts, and we know that many of our pension fund members care deeply about these issues. 

“That’s why we’re launching engagement with members on divestment, before proceeding to a formal consultation. At the end of the consultation process, the Pension Fund Committee will listen carefully to responses before making a final decision on proceeding with divestment.”

Today's announcement is the next step needed to allow for potential divestment, and follows the Pension Fund Committee’s decision in December to consult fund members.