Cambridge University Endowment Fund (CUEF)
The CUEF is an investment fund. The Fund is managed by University of Cambridge Investment Management Limited (“UCIM”), wholly owned by Cambridge University. According to the 2024 report, “Investors in the Fund include Cambridge University, 16 Colleges and five associated Trusts. Over the last 10 years, the Fund has distributed nearly £1.2 billion to these investors.”
Divested?
No.
FOI Request
Refused.
Investment Principles
Cambridge University Endowment Fund Annual Report (2024) mentions environmental and net zero targets but is silent on the issue of arms investments.
In the University Reporter (13 Aug 2021), page 45:
Statement of Investment Responsibility
6 October 2021
In June 2008, the Council approved a Statement of Investment Responsibility (Reporter, 6158, 2008–09, p. 1002), commended by the Executive Committee (now titled the Committee on Benefactions and External and Legal Affairs) and the Investment Board. The Statement sets out the University’s approach to ethical investment. It has been adopted by Cambridge Investment Management Limited (the regulated entity responsible for managing the University’s Endowment Fund).
The Committee on Benefactions and External and Legal Affairs has a responsibility to review the Statement of Investment Responsibility annually. Following the review in 2020–21, the Council has approved changes to the Statement. This update reflects discussions around climate change, and records the Investment Office’s commitments in response to the publication of the report Divestment: Advantages and Disadvantages for the University of Cambridge (Reporter, 6590, 2020–21, p. 13).
The amendments to the Statement (last revised in 2016; Reporter, 6430, 2015–16, p. 636) revise existing paragraph 10, renumber it as 11 and insert a new paragraph 10, which read as follows:
10. The Investment Office is committed to ensuring that the CUEF is positioned to prosper in a future net-zero economy. The Office will reduce fossil fuel exposure as swiftly as possible, in a manner consistent with the CUEF’s successful investment model. Specifically, by 2030, the Investment Office aims to have no meaningful direct or indirect exposure to fossil fuels in the Fund’s portfolio. The longer-term ambition of the Investment Office is to achieve net‑zero greenhouse gas emissions from CUEF’s investment portfolio by 2038, in line with the University’s programme to reduce its own emissions to net zero.¹
11. The University’s Committee on Benefactions and External and Legal Affairs is responsible for keeping the policy on Investment Responsibility under review. Without prejudice to its power to review the policy at any time in so far as it considers it necessary to do so, the Committee will meet for this purpose with the University’s Chief Investment Officer and Director of Finance at least once a year. The appropriate SU Sabbatical Officer will be invited to attend these meetings. Any matters relating to the application of the policy should be addressed in writing to the Registrary.
¹ See the Council’s statement on the report ‘Divestment: Advantages and Disadvantages for the University of Cambridge’
Contacts
investments@ucim.co.uk