The Students’ Union has potentially breached its ethical partnership policy after inviting the payments company Wise to this year’s Welcome Fair.
A source close to the Union has argued that Wise’s appearance at the fair was in breach of a portion of the policy which stipulates that “the Union should cut ties with environmentally and socially harmful banks.”
The Union passed two policies last academic year, committing to cutting ties with unsustainable banks and to addressing the climate emergency across their work.
While Wise is not a bank, it is an online transfers firm which safeguards its cash stores and assets in Barclays, a major funder of oil and gas.
The Cheese Grater previously reported that the Union is currently moving away from banking with Barclays following years of student campaigns and backlash.
Sustainability Officer Oskar Barltrop was critical of the Union’s actions, accusing them of failing to “end partnerships that implicitly legitimise environmentally damaging banks.”
Wise recently announced that they were moving away from their Net-Zero targets for 2030 as a result of their business expanding. Instead they plan to move towards carbon removals.
The company’s net corporate emissions increased by 108% between 2024 and 2025, representing a net output of 112,279 metric tons of carbon dioxide.
Based on this information and student research, the UCL sustainability council has placed Wise in second place in their rankings for unsustainable banks.
The company’s feature at the Welcome Fair led to significant backlash from the sustainability council, with Oskar Barltrop saying “the Union has not ignored but outright disregarded its own policy.”
Not only did the Union breach policy at the Welcome Fair, but advertisements for Emirates and Lloyds Bank were spotted in Union bars and cafes, along with pop-up spin the wheel events for Trip.com, which advertised prizes such as flights to Paris.
These partnerships and advertisements have potentially breached another Union policy – “addressing the climate emergency across the Union’s work”.
This policy commits the Union to “ensuring that sustainability is factored into Union-run events, procurement, partnerships, and advocacy efforts.”
The sustainability officer said “If UCL SU are serious about leading on sustainability in the UK, then advertising flights, even to destinations reachable by train should be a clear red flag.”
Barltrop challenged Union President, Anam Choudhary, at the last week’s Union Executive saying “what is the point of having Union policy if you’re not going to do anything about it?”
While not offering much of an explanation, Choudhary did reaffirm the Union’s commitment to sustainability saying “we are definitely committed to sustainability”.
Choudhary also finally confirmed that she would support the fossil free careers policy, after telling The Cheese Grater that it was “for the future”.
Choudhary later confirmed that these advertisements for Emirates have now been removed from union cafés and bars.
A Union spokesperson said: “We’re working closely with our Sustainability Officer to introduce the policy, and this involves the Union withdrawing from pre-existing contracts. We had a contractual obligation to fulfil Wise’s Welcome Fair booking which was made before the policy was passed.”
