The PRI is a network of over 5,300 signatories who collectively manage more than US$120 trillion in assets under management*. The PRI executive has been coordinating investor stewardship initiatives for more than 10 years, including the Investor Initiative for Sustainable Forests and the Investor Working Group on Sustainable Palm Oil, and is playing a key role coordinating collaboration within Climate Action 100+, the world's largest investor collaborative engagement.

The initiative is part of the PRI's wider support to signatories on managing nature-related risks and opportunities.

The PRI will work closely with organisations coordinating similar initiatives, to ensure alignment and avoid duplication of efforts.

*Numbers are as of September 2023

Spring is currently under development and is expected to launch in the second quarter of 2024. PRI signatories are now invited to apply for their participation in Spring, and indicate their interest in joining one or more engagement groups for the 40 focus companies. The configuration of each engagement group will be announced at a later date. Company engagements are expected to start in mid-2024.

For more information about how to join Spring, please visit the Join Spring page.

Forest loss and land degradation has been prioritised as the first driver of biodiversity loss which will be addressed through PRI’s stewardship initiative due to:

1. Its significant contribution to global biodiversity loss, in addition to its contribution to climate change and association with human rights violations;
2. Existing PRI expertise, developed during past programmes on deforestation and sustainable commodities; and
3. A strong investor demand for PRI to convene a stewardship initiative on this topic.

A phasing-in of further drivers of biodiversity loss will be considered in the medium to long-term, for example to address drivers of biodiversity loss in other realms (e.g., oceans, freshwater).

For further information on Spring’s engagement approach, please visit the About Spring page.

Mitigating the systemic risk of nature and biodiversity loss will require sound public policy as investors cannot diversify away from them and the impact of voluntary corporate action has been limited. Responsible corporate engagement on environmental policy can play a critical role in helping governments create practical policy solutions, while negative and resistant corporate interest can hinder policy action that aims to mitigate the impacts of climate change or to curtail biodiversity loss.

Collaborative engagement on responsible political engagement can address the risk of companies imposing long-term costs on investors and beneficiaries as well as legal and reputational risks.

For more information on the materiality of responsible political engagement, please visit the About Spring page.

Yes. While Spring particularly focuses on corporate responsible political engagement, where appropriate, the initiative will seek to influence positive outcomes for nature through a focus on overall strategy, risk management, internal practices, and supply chain management.

For more information on the high-level company asks, see Spring's investor statement.

No. Participants in Spring will focus on engaging with companies. The engagement with those companies will, where appropriate, include a focus on their political engagement practices. A future phase of Spring or another PRI initiative may focus on direct investor policy engagement, which will be on an opt in basis.

In parallel with Spring, the PRI supports investor engagement with policymakers, for instance through the PRI-supported Investor Policy Dialogue on Deforestation (IPDD). The IPDD is an existing, and successful, collaborative engagement initiative focused on investor engagement with policymakers on biodiversity loss associated with deforestation; in both soft commodity-producer countries (Brazil and Indonesia) and consumer countries (UK, EU and US). Its secretariat is held by the WEF Tropical Forest Alliance.

The PRI provides information and practical recommendations for signatories who want to engage with policy makers.

Participation is open to all PRI signatory asset owners, investment managers or engagement service providers with a specific mandate to represent an institutional investor. The following roles are available:

• Endorser: Endorsers are PRI Signatories that publicly endorse the Initiative by signalling their support for the objectives and strategy of the initiative.
• Participant: Participants are investors who engage with focus companies as part of the initiative.
• Lead Investor and co-lead investor: Lead investors lead on engagement strategy. They are the main point of contact between focus companies, collaborating investors and the PRI Executive.
• Collaborating investor: Collaborating investors proactively support lead investors and co-lead investors in their engagement with focus companies through for example, participation in preparatory calls and engagement meetings.

Further information on the joining requirements as endorsers or participants is available here: Join Spring.

No. There is no fee to sign-up as an endorser or participant.

The deadline for participant applications for the current list of engagement focus companies was 26th April. The application form remains open on a rolling basis where opportunities are available. Candidates are invited to complete this form on the Join Spring page.

Investors can sign-up as an endorser at any point. If an investor applies to join a specific engagement group but cannot join at that time because the engagement group is full, or because the investor doesn't currently meet the relevant criteria, the investor will be added to an engagement group waiting list.

No. The PRI encourages investors to be assertive in their stewardship activities, however participation in Spring does not require that an investor should use different stewardship tools or activities in any particular way. All participating and endorsing investors are independent fiduciaries, who vote and make investment decisions in line with their own strategies, principles, policies, guidelines and/or investment analyses.

Engagement with companies is carried out by participating investors, with the lead investor(s) responsible for setting a company-specific strategy for engagement based on the overarching objectives of Spring.

The participating investors collectively form the Investor Working Group (IWG), responsible for carrying out day-to-day engagement activities with companies. The PRI does not itself engage directly with companies although will often join meetings as an observer.

No. Endorsers are investors who signal their support for the initiative’s objectives and strategy. They do not participate in engagement activities within the initiative and will be listed separately to participants in public information about the initiative. Endorsers who wish to engage companies via the initiative are now invited to apply to participate in Spring by completing this form on the Join Spring page.

Endorsers who outsource their stewardship activities are encouraged to request that their investment managers and engagement service providers with responsibility for engagement apply to take part in Spring or commit to aligning their own engagements to the objectives of the initiative.

Further information is available here: Investors and Join Spring.

The PRI is supportive of any initiative which increases and improves the effectiveness of investor action on nature. Spring’s aim is not to duplicate efforts, but rather to complement existing work by other initiatives through information-sharing and collaboration, where mutually beneficial for all parties. With Spring’s strategic emphasis on 1) key geographies, 2) forest loss and land degradation as a driver of biodiversity loss, and 3) the political engagement of corporates, we have sought optimal additionality to existing initiatives.

We are working closely with Finance Sector Deforestation Action, the Investor Policy Dialogue on Deforestation (IPDD) and others to ensure our programmes of work complement and reinforce each other as much as possible by aligning our strategy and communications. In addition, we are in contact with the Nature Action 100 Secretariat (held by Ceres and IIGCC).

Of the company names that Spring released in February 2024, a small number are also engaged through Nature Action 100, and Climate Action 100+. In these cases, Spring will develop an engagement strategy that seeks to optimize additionality and avoid duplication or conflicting messages. For example, this may result in a greater emphasis on a company’s political engagement practices or on nature-related risks in a company’s supply chain, as appropriate. The secretariats of the various stewardship initiatives will explore this additionality on a company-by-company basis.

No. The company selection methodology aimed to capture influential companies in the policy arenas that shape the dynamics of forest loss and land degradation in priority geographies. Companies were not assessed against any criteria related to Responsible Political Engagement, zero-deforestation and conversion or other topics. The inclusion of companies therefore does not imply any form of irresponsible conduct.

For more information on the company selection process, please visit the Companies page.

No. The current list of focus companies represents a first batch, and additional company names will be added at a later date. This phased release ensures a high likelihood of engagement success and ensures sufficient internal capacity to provide adequate PRI support when the initiative launches.