The PRI consulted on its Investor Data Needs (IDN) Framework from June 2023 to March 2024. The purpose of the consultation was to test the IDN Framework and its application with different stakeholders to inform the next iteration of the Framework.

Questions for respondents

The following questions were consulted on:

Question 1: The overall framework and its proposed application

  1. Are all three of the requirements of data to be decision-useful (i.e., available, of sufficient quality and relevant) of equal importance to responsible investors? Why, or why not? [see The Investor Data Needs Framework] 

  2. Are the two primary applications of the framework clear? [see Application of the framework] 

  3. Are there any terms in the framework that are unclear? [see Glossary] 

Question 2: The relevance matrix

  1. Do you agree with our specification and definitions of the following elements of the relevance matrix? Please explain your reasoning.   

    1. The investment strategies. [see Investment strategy] 

    2. The list of responsible investment activities. [see Responsible investment activities] 

    3. The characteristics of data. [see Data characteristics] 

  2. Do you agree with our specification of the minimum requirements for data to be relevant, as set out by the tables in Appendix 3? Please explain your reasoning. [see Appendix 3] 

  3. Are there any specific requirements (i.e., a specific type of data to inform a specific investment activity) that you recommend should be included (or amended), if a responsible investor were to focus on one of the following sustainability issues?  

    1. Human rights and social issues. 

    2. Nature. 

Question 3: Next steps for the framework

  1. What should the PRI prioritise for the next iteration of the framework? Please rank any/all from the list below. 

    1. Refine the framework to specify data needs for private markets. 

    2. Expand the framework to consider data needs of real estate and infrastructure assets.  

    3. Expand the framework to consider data needs of sovereign asset classes. 

    4. Test the framework on the data needs for physical climate risks. 

    5. Test the framework on data needs to implement the following specific activities: ‘Measuring alignment with achieving wider sustainability goals’ and ‘Sustainability performance of a portfolio versus the benchmark’. 

    6. Expand the scope of the framework to consider processed data from data and service providers. 

    7. Expand the scope of the framework to consider the following additional investment strategies: impact investing and/or thematic investment strategies. 

    8. Expand the framework to develop more detailed criteria for the specific requirement that ’data must be accessible’. 

    9. Other priority/priorities – please specify. 

  2. Please explain the reasoning behind your ranking. 

Question 4: Other comments

  1. Do you have any further comments you would like to make on the PRI’s IDN Framework? 

  2. Would you like to be kept informed of any further developments on the framework?  

Engagement

We received feedback from 39 PRI signatories, a corporate standard setter and corporate industry body on the framework to inform next steps on the research. Based on this feedback, the planned actions include:  

  1. Refining the framework. Changes will be made to key terms and work will be undertaken to refine the framework’s approach to relevance of data (i.e. to meet the requirements for the responsible investment process and investor disclosure).  
  2. Applying the framework. The primary application of the framework is to develop issue-specific data needs positions, particularly on nature related data and human rights and social related data. We are in the process of exploring the application of the framework to build more granular positions on these issues. In addition, another area to apply the framework we are currently scoping out is applying the framework is to data needs in the private markets, to inform PRI’s engagement with private market data initiatives.  

A more detailed summary of the engagement, particularly with PRI’s signatories, can be found in the pdf below. For more information, on PRI’s work on investor data needs, please refer to the PRI’s page on Understanding Investors’ Data Needs. 

For any queries on the consultation, please contact [email protected].  

 

NB: This page was published in June 2023 and updated in April 2024.

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