László Molnárfi

Trinity College Dublin’s (TCD) Endowment Fund’s equity portfolio (c.65% of total Endowment Fund portfolio) comprises equity investments via units held in two indexed life assurance Funds which are passively managed by Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM) as detailed below.

 • MSCI World ex-Fossil Fuels ex Tobacco Fund

 • TCD High Yield Equity ex-Fossil Fuels ex Tobacco Fund

By way of a FOI request answered on the 30th of July 2021, TCD and ILIM provided a list of “full portfolio listings of the two indexed equity funds at 31 December 2020” to us.

In our research, we looked at the following arms companies to see whether TCD has any investments in them. There may be some which are not on the list and therefore not in the table below. In total, according to this list, Trinity College Dublin has 2,6+ million euros invested in the arms industry, which is increased from 2015 when a journalistic inquiry determined the same figure to be around 850,000 €. For example, it has 721,473 € invested in LockHeed Martin, a company whose handheld weapons and fighter jets have been used by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians. Through the ceaseless self-expansion of capital, capitalism has made us complicit in conflict over resources, imperialist wars and colonial oppression.

Aeroflex Ltd, Airbus Defence, Airbus Group Ltd, Airbus OP Ltd, BAE Marin Ltd, BAE Surface Ships, BMT Defence Ltd, Boeing, General Electric Co, Halliburton Energy, Halliburton Man, Hewlett Packard, Honeywell Ctrl, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, Qinetiq, Thales UK Ltd, BAE Systems, Rolls Royce, GKN, Smiths Group, Cobham, VT Group, General Dynamics, General Electric, Halliburton, L3 Communications, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and General Motors are the companies involved in the global arms trade that we looked for.

Thank you to UCL’s demilitarization campaign (@demilitariseucl on Instagram) for their support through providing valuable tips on FOIs and the list of companies involved in the arms trade. Their FOI requests can be found here, here and here.

Our FOI request and the original documents are attached here. Students 4 Peace’s site can be found here!

FundAmount Total of FundName of CompanyPercentage of FundAmount Invested in Company
MSCI World Ex Fossil Fuels ex Tobacco Fund 31/12/202079,307,312 €AIRBUS0.14%111,030 €
MSCI World Ex Fossil Fuels ex Tobacco Fund 31/12/202079,307,312 €BAE SYSTEMS ORD GBP0.0250.04%31,722 €
Global High Yield Equity Ex Fossil Fuels ex Tobacco Fund 31/12/202068,895,311 €BAE SYSTEMS ORD GBP0.0250.20%137,790 €
MSCI World Ex Fossil Fuels ex Tobacco Fund 31/12/202079,307,312 €BOEING CO COM USD50.24%190,337 €
MSCI World Ex Fossil Fuels ex Tobacco Fund 31/12/202079,307,312 €HALLIBURTON COM USD2.500.03%23,792 €
MSCI World Ex Fossil Fuels ex Tobacco Fund 31/12/202079,307,312 €HEWLETT PACKARD EN COM USD0.010.03%23,792 €
MSCI World Ex Fossil Fuels ex Tobacco Fund 31/12/202079,307,312 €HONEYWELL INTL INC COM USD10.31%245,852 €
Global High Yield Equity Ex Fossil Fuels ex Tobacco Fund 31/12/202068,895,311 €LOCKHEED MARTIN CO COM USD10.84%578,720 €
MSCI World Ex Fossil Fuels ex Tobacco Fund 31/12/202079,307,312 €LOCKHEED MARTIN CO COM USD10.18%142,753 €
MSCI World Ex Fossil Fuels ex Tobacco Fund 31/12/202079,307,312 €THALES EUR30.02%15,861 €
MSCI World Ex Fossil Fuels ex Tobacco Fund 31/12/202079,307,312 €ROLLS ROYCE ORD GBP1.500.03%23,792 €
MSCI World Ex Fossil Fuels ex Tobacco Fund 31/12/202079,307,312 €SMITHS GROUP ORD GBP0.3750.02%15,861 €
MSCI World Ex Fossil Fuels ex Tobacco Fund 31/12/202079,307,312 €GENERAL MOTORS CO COM USD0.010.11%87,238 €
MSCI World Ex Fossil Fuels ex Tobacco Fund 31/12/202079,307,312 €L3 HARRIS TECHNOLO COM USD1.000.08%63,445 €
MSCI World Ex Fossil Fuels ex Tobacco Fund 31/12/202079,307,312 €NORTHROP GRUMMAN COM USD10.10%79,307 €
MSCI World Ex Fossil Fuels ex Tobacco Fund 31/12/202079,307,312 €RAYTHEON TECHNOLOG COM USD1.000.22%174,476 €
Global High Yield Equity Ex Fossil Fuels ex Tobacco Fund 31/12/202068,895,311 €RAYTHEON TECHNOLOG COM USD1.001.02%702,732 €
Figure 1: TCD’s investments in the arms industry through its Endowment Fund as of December 31st 2020.