PRI signatories encourage participation in UN Global Compact

Over 1,900 companies from 44 countries are being encouraged by a coalition of institutional investors worth $3.3 trillion to join the UN Global Compact as part of the Principles for Responsible Investment’s (PRI) latest collaborative engagement. 

Launched on the back of the Rio+20 conference last year, ‘PRI for Rio’ encourages firms to adopt sustainable and socially responsible business practices.

The UN Global Compact has grown to be the largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative in the world, and now has over 7,000 signatories from 135 countries.

The ‘PRI for Rio’ engagement looks to help businesses adhere to the 10 global compact principles, which cover areas such as human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption.

“Company transparency and disclosure of environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks are vital for our ability to assess these in our investment decision-making process”, said Per Noesgaard, CEO of Sparinvest Holdings SE. 

“Companies signing up to the UN Global Compact display a commitment to disclosing and addressing ESG risks in their business, which is definitely in our interest as a long-term asset manager.” 

The PRI recently released two reports that showed the extent to which institutional investors were integrating ESG issues. Its signatories previously picked out climate change, executive pay and labour standards in the supply chain as three of the most urgent areas for engagement.

Further reading:

Encouraging sustainable finance: the Principles for Responsible Investment

Responsible investment bodies: what is the PRI?

Investment reports reveal widespread use of ESG integration

PRI signatories pick out top ESG engagement issues

Poor ESG records scupper private equity deals