Article #976525462
A High Court ruling last week against the NZ Super Funds’ sustainable investment policy is likely to concern KiwiSaver managers.
Sunday, April 19th 2026, 2:11AM
The court ruled certain parts of the Guardians’ current sustainable investment policy documents do not comply with legislative requirements.
Under the law the NZ Super Fund must invest “in a manner consistent with avoiding prejudice to New Zealand’s reputation as a responsible member of the world community”.
The case, taken by the Palestinian Solidarity Network argued successfully that the NZ Super Funds investments in four companies which operate in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) was in breach of its legally imposed obligations.
The High Court ruling said these companies support illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine.
The NZ Super Fund has $190 million invested in Motorola Solutions, Booking.com, Airbnb and Expedia.
However, Mindful Money says KiwiSaver funds have $245 million invested in these four companies ad there is another $175 million invested in them through other retail funds.
The court said the NZ Super Funds’ investments were “unlawful” and “unreasonable”.
Mindful Money co-Chief Executive Barry Coates says the same criticism should apply to the investments made by other managers.
“Surveys should that 91% of the New Zealand public want to avoid investments that violate human rights,” Coates says.
“There should be no excuse that fund providers did not know about these issues – Mindful Money has informed them of the issues consistently over the past three years.
Yet, shockingly, analysis shows there was an increase in investments into these four companies of more than 12% in six months to September 2025.”
The Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation is considering its response to the judicial review decision.
The Guardians says in a statement, say the court ruled that relevant parts of its sustainable investment policy documents did not identify with sufficient clarity the standards and procedures the Guardians applies in order to invest the NZ Super Fund “in a manner consistent with avoiding prejudice to New Zealand’s reputation as a responsible member of the world community”.
Guardians CEO Jo Townsend said the Guardians was strongly committed to operating as transparently as possible.
“We recognise that we are investing on behalf of all New Zealanders, and that gives people a legitimate interest in how we manage the Fund.
“We will thoroughly evaluate the decision and determine how best to respond to it.”
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