The UK’s biggest pension fund is to sell out of tobacco, coal stocks and investments in controversial armaments, joining an increasingly widespread movement among the world’s top investors to abandon industries judged to be unsustainable in the long term.

The Universities Superannuation Scheme, which manages £68bn in retirement savings for 400,000 academics, announced its first-ever “exclusions” — the ruling-out of certain investments — in a statement on 1 June. Simon Pilcher, its chief investment officer, said: “This is a major development for us, and one that will balance both keeping the financial promises made to [our members] with investing in a responsible way.”