Investors that report on their responsible investment activities through the PRI’s Reporting Framework receive a private Assessment Report. This report shows year-on-year progress and broad scoring bands per module or asset class/sub-strategy. Scores are confidential, with no overall organisation score given.
Why investors are assessed
The assessment aims to:
- identify how signatories can improve their responsible investment practices;
- allow asset owners to focus their discussions with investment managers on responsible investment activities and capabilities, by allowing signatories to share their Assessment Reports; and
- facilitate learning and development by outlining how signatories’ responsible investment activities compare year-on-year, across asset classes, and with peers at a local and global level by providing high-level comparative data.
For more information on how to share your Assessment Report, please see the PRI’s Publication Guidelines (PDF). More about the PRI’s data sharing policy is on the How to access reported data page.
Scoring methodology guidelines
The scoring methodology for the 2024 Reporting Framework remains unchanged from 2023 and has an overall focus on:
- signatories’ responsible investment implementation across their overall investment processes, rather than looking only at their investment in ESG products;
- how specific responsible investment practices are implemented, for example the percentage of AUM covered;
- how sophisticated the responsible investment practices are for the majority of AUM;
- consistency, including how group policies are applied in different asset classes or sub-categories, or how policies are implemented by external managers or service providers;
- having more clarity on the timeframe of practices carried out.
2024 Assessment Methodology
Download the 2024 Assessment Methodology (PDF)
Scores continue to be confidential, and are provided per module, asset class or, sub-strategy with no overall organisation score given.
The assessment methodology reflects how the Reporting Framework is assessed at an indicator (question) level and a module, asset class, or sub-strategy level.
At an indicator level:
- only core questions – which are close-ended, mandatory to report on, and made public – are assessed;
- initially, 0–100 points are available per indicator;
- a multiplier is then applied to the indicator score, weighted based on its relative importance with respect to responsible investment practices and/or the PRI’s overall mission.
Descriptions of the multipliers are included in the Reporting Framework modules, while the numbers used are only visible to signatories in the Reporting Tool and in their Assessment Reports.
At the module and asset class/sub-strategy level, the score consists of a grading system ranging from 1 to 5 stars. The lowest possible grade is one star, allocated to those whose responsible investment practices are at the lower end of what is expected from signatories. The highest score is five stars, awarded to those signatories that demonstrate leading responsible investment practices.
Assessed modules will receive one score per module, asset class, or sub-strategy as follows:
- Policy, Governance and Strategy (PGS), Private Equity, Infrastructure, Real Estate, and Confidence Building Measures (CBM) will receive one score per module.
- Selection, Appointment & Monitoring (SAM), Fixed Income, Listed Equity, and Hedge Funds will receivea score for each sub-strategy or asset class, and not an overall module score.
The Senior Leadership Statement, Organisational Overview, and Sustainability Outcomes modules are not assessed.
Stewardship-related indicators are integrated throughout the Reporting Framework, particularly in the PGS module. Signatories will not receive a separate score for their stewardship practices, including (proxy) voting activities.
Frequently asked questions
Why aren’t “Other, please specify” answer options always scored?
The PRI does not score “Other, please specify” answer options in indicators where the other available options capture practices sufficiently for assessment.
In cases where the “Other, please specify” option is scored, we only count whether the option has been selected or not, as no qualitative data is considered in the scoring.
However, the PRI considers responses to “Other, please specify” answer options to improve the Reporting Framework. We use these responses when reviewing content for module development (e.g., by identifying best practices and making indicators more applicable to signatories).
Why does the scoring methodology differ between certain indicators?
Several scoring styles have been used to ensure assessment best fits the variety of indicator-level questions covered within the Reporting Framework.
You can find more information on the scoring styles in the 2024 Assessment Methodology (PDF).
Why is the selection of some answer options required to get higher points?
In some indicators, certain answer options are considered fundamental market practices within the relevant asset class, as identified by our subject matter experts. We made achieving a higher score conditional on selecting these practices to reflect this importance, as outlined in the 2024 Assessment Methodology (PDF).
Will my organisation receive an overall score?
The PRI does not rate signatories at an organisational level. Therefore, signatories won’t receive a single, general assessment score for their organisations in their Assessment Reports. However, they will receive module, asset class, or sub-strategy-level scores for each assessed module that they completed in their reporting.
Will I be able to compare my organisation’s 2024 scores with previous years?
The content of the 2024 Reporting Framework has not changed significantly, reflecting our commitment to provide signatories with the stability they have told us they value, and the assessment methodology is also unchanged compared to 2023.
This should enable better year-on-year comparison of signatories’ scores across modules and indicators, with only 33 indicators updated or amended to fix errors identified during the 2023 reporting cycle or to improve logic and clarity.
Signatories should check the Indicator Changes Guide to identify where 2023 and 2024 indicators scores can be compared. More information on the 2024 Reporting Framework and scoring can be found in the 2024 Assessment Methodology (PDF).
How will the indicator-level assessment translate into the module-level scores?
Module-level scores range between one and five stars.
To calculate the module-level score, all indicator-level points are aggregated (with their multipliers) to form a percentage score. We then use the scoring thresholds to translate the percentage into a grade, ranging from one to five stars.
The 2024 scoring thresholds will be published ahead of the 2024 Outputs launch. We aim to ensure minimum variation in the scoring thresholds from year to year for consistency. See the Reporting & Assessment archive for more information on previous years’ scoring thresholds.
What are multipliers, and how does indicator weighting work?
Multipliers reflect the relative importance of an indicator in the module, based on how strongly the actions covered in a question are aligned with responsible investment practices and/or the PRI’s overall mission.
The multipliers are calculated by categorising the questions into three distinct classes: low, moderate, and high, and applying a multiplier to the question score once the initial scores are calculated. More details are provided in the 2024 Assessment Methodology (PDF).
What are scoring thresholds and how were they determined?
Scoring thresholds define the percentage boundary at which the module-level stars are allocated. The 2024 scoring thresholds are aligned to those used in the 2023 Reporting Framework to enable the comparison of module scores.
You will find more information on the scoring thresholds in the 2024 Assessment Methodology (PDF)
Can my organisation opt out of getting an Assessment Report?
An Assessment Report is generated for each investor signatory that reports by the given deadline, along with a public and private Transparency Report. The Assessment Report is confidential and only visible to the signatory organisation once generated. Signatories do not have to view or download their Assessment Reports, but the PRI strongly encourages them to do so, as the reports can help signatories to identify how they can improve their responsible investment practices.
My organisation is a first-time reporter. When will we receive our first Assessment Report?
New signatories are given a grace period, during which time they are not required to report. Signatories that choose to report in their grace period will receive an Assessment Report at the same time as mandatory reporters. Signatories that do not report during this time will receive their first Assessment Report in their first mandatory reporting year.
Where can I find information on the scoring criteria for each indicator in the Reporting Framework modules?
You can find information about the indicator-level scoring criteria and the Reporting Framework modules on our Investor Reporting Framework page.
Does the assessment favour any particular investment strategy or engagement method within specific asset classes?
The assessment does not promote any specific investment strategy or engagement method, and aims to showcase best practices in responsible investment across asset classes worldwide. These activities are assessed within each asset class based on equal value, regardless of approach (e.g., screening or integration), whether they are conducted internally or externally, and they are individual, collaborative or conducted through a service provider.
Why does the assessment change over time?
It is important that the PRI’s reporting and assessment stays up to date with the fast-moving changes in the responsible investment industry. Therefore, indicators may be added, modified, or removed to reflect changes in the market, impacting the indicator and/or module-level assessment. The indicator or module-level assessment may also be adjusted based on signatories’ past performance (e.g., to increase the difficulty of high-scoring indicators).
Why is my organisation getting the same one-star score as signatories that do not incorporate ESG factors in their investment decision?
Module-level scores are calculated based on the total points a signatory receives in all the applicable indicators. The scoring thresholds, available in the 2024 Assessment Methodology (PDF), translate points into a numerical grading system (one to five stars). A five-star grade is the highest possible score, awarded to those signatories that demonstrate leading practices within the responsible investment industry. The one-star grade is allocated to those whose responsible investment practices are at the lower end of the scale, including those that do not incorporate ESG factors in their investment decisions.
Where can I provide feedback on the presentation of the Assessment Report, or on particular aspects of the assessment criteria and methodology?
PRI signatories are welcome to share their feedback on how the assessment methodology could be improved by emailing [email protected].
All feedback will be collected and considered for future long-term Data Portal and assessment methodology development.
The reporting process
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