In just three years the number of major global investors signing up to the UN-backed 'Principles for Responsible Investment' Initiative (PRI) has soared from 50 to over 600, representing US$18 trillion of assets and 37 countries. It is a clear recognition by mainstream institutional investors of the importance of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues to investment processes.

So how can Turkish investors better integrate these issues into their investment decision-making and ownership practices?

The United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), developed by, and for, institutional asset owners, provide a voluntary, aspirational set of guidelines to address these sources of risk and drivers of value in a way that is consistent with fiduciary duty.

The Principles are designed to be compatible with the investment styles of large institutional investors, and do not require divestment of particular companies or sectors but rather encourage an ‘active ownership’ approach, involving constructive dialogue with companies. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis institutional investors are increasingly seeing the management of ESG issues as part of the changes that need to be made to correct the systemic failures in capital markets.

Since the 2008 decision of the Turkish government to sign the Kyoto Protocol, the awareness and the interest of both state authorities and the private sector in ESG issues has increased significantly.

This PRI Workshop which took place in conjunction with the ESG Workshop organized by FEAS (www.feas.org) and it was hosted by Istanbul Stock Exchange was an opportunity for Turkish investors to learn from and share their experiences with peers from around the world on managing those challenges. With insights from signatories on their experiences and identified best practices to-date, participants learned of how they can join the PRI signatory community and benefit from the tools provided by the PRI.

To access Dr. James Gifford presentation, PRI Executive Director, click here.

To see the list of people who attended the event, click here.

The final agenda is available here.

If you have any questions, please contact Narina Mnatsakanian at: narina.mnatsakanian@unpri.org or Marcela Zonis at marcela.zonis@unpri.org.

hosted by

supported by