Work Streams

The PRI initiative has a range of activities to support signatories' implementation of the Principles. These include:

• PRI Academic Network
• Engagement Clearinghouse
• PRI in Practice
• PRI Enhanced Research Portal
• Reporting and Assessment Tool
• PRI in Emerging Markets and Developing Countries
• PRI in Private Equity
• PRI in Property
• PRI Public Policy Network

For further information about any of these activities, please email info at unpri.org

PRI Academic Network

As part of broader efforts to increase knowledge about responsible investment practices, the PRI Academic Network works to strengthen cooperation between signatories and the academic community.

With a membership of over 300 academics, investment practitioners and policy makers, the PRI Academic Network represents a diverse array of research interests from around the world. The network aims to provide implementation support to PRI signatories through promoting and funding research and events that generate practical and relevant responsible investment research. The network hosts an annual conference and co-manages the Young Scholars Finance Academy in partnership with the Swiss-based oikos Foundation. It also produces the monthly 'RI Digest', an e-bulletin that reviews the latest academic research on responsible investment.

Read the latest issue of 'RI Digest' here.

Engagement Clearinghouse

The PRI Engagement Clearinghouse, established in late 2006, provides signatories with a forum to share information about engagement activities they are conducting, or would like to conduct. It is the first of its kind in the world, and we believe it holds great promise for stimulating collaboration amongst signatories.   There are relatively few institutional investors in the world that have the power and legitimacy to individually influence corporate performance on ESG issues through the size of their own institutional shareholding alone. The primary objective of the Engagement Clearinghouse is to provide signatories with a collaborative forum that can transform one voice into the voice of many.   One of the difficulties that investors face is that the costs of monitoring corporate performance and engaging with companies are borne by those that conduct the engagement, while the benefits are shared by all shareholders of the company. And when engagement is conducted in a professional and systematic way, these costs can be significant.

The PRI Engagement Clearinghouse is designed to help address this collective action problem. It is based around a private online forum for signatories to pool their resources and influence, and seek changes in company behaviour, policy or systematic conditions.

To use the PRI Engagement Clearinghouse, signatories develop a proposal for the engagement they would like to undertake, with details for how it would be conducted, expected outcomes, background information and any associated documents. Other signatories can see which activities are being proposed, and then choose to participate, or simply use the Clearinghouse as a learning platform.     

For more information on collaborative engagements visit our "Collaborations" page.

'PRI in practice'

Once an institutional investor has made the decision to endorse the Principles for Responsible Investment one of the first questions they invariably ask is 'what exactly do we do?'

The PRI in practice™ implementation blog was set up in early 2007 to answer these questions. Signatories can find information to broaden their understanding of responsible investment issues, and the approaches taken by leading signatories. 

Accessible through a password-protected intranet, PRI signatories are able to access a range of information resources including interviews with key industry practitioners, book reviews, issues briefs and listings of other investor collaborative initiatives.    

PRI Enhanced Research Portal

For more information, please click here.

Reporting and Assessment Tool

Although the PRI is voluntary and aspirational, with no absolute performance benchmarks, it is still important to evaluate progress and effectivenss of various implementation activities. To address this need the PRI commissioned Mercer Investment Consulting to work with signatories to develop a reporting and assessment tool, based around an annual questionnaire. All asset owner and investment manager signatories are asked on an annual basis to complete the survey, the Reporting and Assessment Framework. The survey provides a way for signatories to measure their own progress against their peers and learn from each other. The framework methodology acknowledges the different approaches taken by signatories and assists the identification of barriers to implementation, which in turn helps determine priorities for training and other support activities. It also enables the PRI to identify and showcase best practices from within the signatory body, which can then be reflected back though implementation resources.

PRI in Emerging Markets and Developing Countries

In partnership with the Swedish International Development Agency, UNEP FI is leading a two-year project to promote the PRI in emerging markets and developing countries (PRI in EM). This project has two main pillars. First, it will promote local investor adoption and implementation of the Principles. It will support institutional investors in these markets to better understand ESG issues and the commitments outlined in the Principles. Second, it will coordinate shareholder engagement by PRI signatories from developed and emerging markets with global and local companies operating in developing countries to encourage responsible business practices. It will also seek to address systemic problems constraining responsible investment through policy dialogue.

Project activities include:

1. Promoting the PRI and building capacity among emerging market institutional investors
2. Developing and disseminating ESG research, analysis and benchmarking
3. Coordinating collaborative investor engagement on ESG issues to encourage responsible business practice in emerging markets and developing countries
4. Identifying and addressing systemic constraints to responsible investment in these markets

Country focus
The country focus list for implementing these key activities is based on the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Actual activities are determined by market maturity towards responsible investment and professional investment management.

Progress in year 1
During the first year of the project the number of investors from Emerging Markets that signed up to the PRI as well as their assets under management has nearly doubled. Now the PRI has around 70 signatories from 10 emerging markets with assets under management of around US$ 440 billion.

How the project makes a difference
The project has focused on capacity building of local EM investors by creating networks between local and international investors with investments in the emerging markets and developing countries. The project is also supporting and coordinating collaborative investor engagement around sustainability and governance disclosure by local companies operating in the target emerging markets.

PRI momentum in Emerging Markets.
Brazil, South Korea and South Africa are the three countries where the responsible investment momentum and investor interest in the PRI has been the strongest. Last year the project organized implementation and recruitment workshops in these countries, which has facilitated this momentum building. This year the PRI in EM project is working with local investors to build PRI networks focusing on implementation of the Principles and collaborative shareholder engagement on the issues, which are key to these markets.

Next steps
The project is aiming to organize outreach events and start dialogue with local investors in the remaining target countries.

PRI in Private Equity

Click here to go to the Private Equity Workstream page.

PRI in Property

The PRI Secretariat is working with the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative Property Working Group to determine how the Principles apply to property investment and management practices. As a result of this work a major report, Building Responsible Property Portfolios™ was published in summer 08. The report highlights international best practice examples of leading UNEP FI and PRI signatories on how to apply the Principles for Responsible Investment to property assets. The full report can be downloaded here. Current work is ongoing and for more information visit: http://www.unepfi.org/work_streams/property/index.html

PRI Public Policy Network

Policy-makers around the world are increasingly recognising that supporting and encouraging responsible investment can help them to achieve public policy goals. To date, there has not been a network bringing together public sector representatives to discuss this growing field. Responsible investors also recognise that appropriate regulatory frameworks and governmental support are essential for the development of responsible investment. The PRI Public Policy network aims to bring together public policy representatives for the first time to discuss and share best practices around responsible investment. The network will also engage responsible investors to share their views on how regulation and public resources can be leveraged to encourage more sustainable capital markets.

In addition, the PRI Initiative is currently working with United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the UN Global Compact Office to organise the second Sustainable Stock Exchanges dialogue in Xiamen, China on 8 September 2010. The conference will focus on the relationship between exchanges and the regulatory frameworks in which they operate in light of emerging ESG issues. At last year's event, more than 100 senior executives from around the world met at UN Headquarters in New York to explore how the world's exchanges can work together with investors, regulators, and companies to enhance corporate transparency, and ultimately performance, on ESG issues and encourage responsible long-term approaches to investment. More information is available here.