13 April 2023
Transparency & UNPRI signatory reporting in 2023
Institutional investors increasingly recognize the importance of integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations into their investment decision-making. To this end, the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) provides a framework to guide investors in this process, promoting best practices in responsible investment. As of 2021, the initiative has over 4,000 signatories representing over $100 trillion in assets under management. PRI is recognised globally as a leading institution and has established itself as the largest reporting project on responsible investment.
The latest IPCC report has made clear that the window of opportunity to secure a sustainable future for all is quickly closing. At Longevity Partners, we understand the scale of rapid change that is required to decarbonize the planet and avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Responsible investing is a key element of this necessary change, and PRI provides a crucial opportunity for real impact.
Indeed, with issues of transparency, lack of verified disclosure, and mislabelling of ESG too often featured in the media, Longevity Partners welcomes the PRI initiative to create a baseline of accountability around responsible investing. We look forward to the 2023 reporting and encourage signatories to disclose their scores to help foster a transparent market.
In an effort to support a transparent and responsible investment market, and UNPRI signatories at large, Longevity Partners has developed a PRI reporting tool, which we are making available to all signatories to help them prepare ahead of the May deadline. The reporting tool is available to download via the link at the foot of this article. With it, signatories can already input their answers for 2023 and gauge their performance in applicable modules. We look forward to a very successful PRI reporting season and want signatories to have access to all tools available to promote their transparency.
UNPRI Reporting: then and now
Since 2006, the PRI has provided a self-assessment model that requires PRI signatories to report on their progress in integrating ESG considerations into their investment practices. The reporting promotes accountability, transparency, builds trust between investors and their stakeholders, and helps investors identify and manage ESG-related risks and opportunities.
In 2021, PRI restructured its reporting framework to address criticisms and signatory feedback. In the previous five years, critics of PRI wanted the initiative to address its lack of enforceability, standardization across asset classes, and lag against the latest developments in ESG and climate change adaptation and mitigation. With the 2021 pilot year, the PRI has addressed many of its systemic issues; with the release of the 2023 framework, Longevity Partners has found that many of the original concerns have been met. The institution now offers a mechanism of transparency that promotes disclosure of responsible investment practices, and, through its modules scoring, incentivises signatories to have actionable and ambitious targets around carbon emissions, scope 1,2,3 emission disclosure, and decarbonization plans.
Longevity Partners PRI Reporting Tool & Services
Longevity Partners is a sustainability advisory firm for the built environment. We provide the full scope of services required to promote ESG and implement responsible practices for our clients around the world. Throughout our rapid growth, we have thrived by identifying our clients’ needs and creating bespoke solutions to address them.
We have been advising and helping our clients report under the PRI framework since 2019. With the release of the 2023 framework, Longevity Partners is pleased to recognise the positive changes achieved by the PRI.
To assist our clients with UNPRI reporting, we provide them with a pre-assessment to map their performance against the 2023 framework. We then predict the module applicability and scores. Longevity Partners’ clients also receive gap analyses – both before and after the reporting window – to yield actionable results from the disclosure exercise. We also recommend all signatories to publish their scores publicly, and to consider their PRI reporting through a multi-year timeframe, wherein continuous improvement and transparency are more important than the star rating alone.
Longevity Partners has developed a tool that allows one to model the framework’s indicators, scores, guidelines, modules, and logic guide, in a single excel document. With the reporting tool, signatories can pick up their responses from 2021, update their answers, understand what modules and indicators are specific to their disclosure, and get a head start by preparing for the opening of the web portal happening at the end of May.
Reach out to Longevity Partners if you have any questions about the tool or would like any support from our team for PRI reporting.
The tool can be accessed directly by navigating to our UNPRI Reporting webpage, or by clicking here.