NZ Super 'accepts' court loss, updates policy

The Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation (Guardians), the manager of the $90 billion New Zealand Superannuation Fund, has confirmed it will not appeal a recent Judicial Review which found two of its policy documents were not formulated in accordance with the relevant statutory requirements.

In a decision published on 16 May 2026, Justice Mount said parts of the Guardians' Statement of Investment Policies, Standards & Procedures and its Sustainable Investment Framework were "materially less clear and specific than the previous iterations" and "framed in such general terms as to provide no practical benchmark for those applying them in relation to alleged breaches of human rights standards."

Guardians general manager of corporate affairs Cristina Billett said Guardians accepted that its policies need more specificity and would be amending them accordingly.

"Our mandate requires us to manage the Super Fund in a manner consistent with, among other things, avoiding prejudice to New Zealand's reputation as a responsible member of the world community, and our investment policies are designed to ensure we achieve that objective," Billett said.

"We accept Justice Mount's finding that it is important we not only adhere to and comply with our sustainable investment policies, but that the standards and procedures underlying those policies must be identified more clearly in our policy documents.

With that in mind, we are now working on how we can reformulate those documents to ensure they satisfy that condition."

Billett said the court decision focused on the way the Guardians' policy documents described the Guardians' sustainable investment decision-making processes.

NZ Super said updates to the policy documents in recent years had not, however, materially changed the Guardians' actual engagement and exclusion practices.

The policy changes come after New Zealand's High Court ruled against the nation's super fund in April, finding some of its policies are "unreasonable and unlawful" in regards to how it treats companies accused of human rights breaches.

The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) issued judicial review proceedings against NZ Super Fund for its failure to divest from Israeli companies that have been deemed by the United Nations to be complicit in the Israeli occupation of Occupied Palestinian Territory (OTP). It asked the High Court to review the fund's policies in relation to ethical investments.

The complaint related to holdings in Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, and Motorola. Collectively, NZ Super has about $155 million of its $75 billion invested in them.

The PSNA had been calling for NZ Super to divest the companies for some time prior to filing for judicial review, having had success against the fund in 2021 when it divested five Israeli banks due to risks they were materially contributing to human rights breaches.

In a judgment released this morning, the High Court found: "The Guardian's policies fail to meet the basic requirements of the Act (New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001) so far as exclusion from the fund for alleged breach of human rights standards is concerned. They are unreasonable and unlawful."