Views from USS

24 July 2025

Climate change – a significant financial risk

Climate change is a significant financial risk – one that’s increasingly reshaping the way we look at our investments and their long-term returns. As we publish our latest TCFD report, I talk to the progress we’re making towards our ambition for our investments to be net zero by 2050, if not before. I also talk to our enhanced climate scenario analysis which uses our updated climate scenarios to strengthen our assessment of transition risks and we’ve incorporated physical risks in our scenario analysis for the first time.

24 July 2025

Investing for a purpose: the Retirement Income Builder

Unlike defined contribution (DC) pensions, where members’ benefits depend on how investments perform, a defined benefit (DB) pension is a guaranteed income for life based on a formula linked to salary and years of service. One of our key legal duties as trustee is to ensure the pensions promised to members (our liabilities) can and will be paid when they fall due. This shapes how we invest: by design, our approach does not target absolute returns above all else but rather aims to outperform the scheme’s liabilities and improve the funding position.

12 June 2025

Stewardship – an important part of our investment strategy

We’ve now published our latest Stewardship Report for 2025, which looks at what we’ve done to meet the UK Stewardship Code principles – something that’s widely recognised as the leading stewardship framework globally. Here we touch on what stewardship means for us and look at some examples to bring our activities to life.

22 April 2025

Incorporating sustainability-themed investments in our DC ethical investment options

We’ve updated USS’s Investment Builder ethical investment options to incorporate a more explicit focus on sustainable investing.

28 March 2025

USS: 50 years young – reflections on the scheme’s golden jubilee year

To mark USS’s 50th anniversary, we invited David Watts (a UCU-appointed non-executive director) and Will Spinks (a UCEA-appointed non-executive director) to share their perspectives on the scheme and where it finds itself in its jubilee year.

4 March 2025

Private considerations

The way USS has developed its in-house private markets expertise over the past 18 years is held up as a case study in a report published by the People’s Pension.

22 August 2024

Developing our investment capability in developed markets

USSIM, USS’s in-house investment manager, is committed to ensuring it develops the investment capabilities required to deliver a portfolio that meets the long-term financial needs of USS’s members.

1 August 2024

Our commitment to stewardship

Stewardship is allocating and overseeing capital to create long term value for beneficiaries which leads to wider economic, environmental and societal benefits.

20 June 2024

Commenting on our investments

There are times when there is a lot of interest in our investments – but commenting on individual assets, or on speculation about potential deals, isn’t always wise.