Supporting quotes

I fully support PRI and UNEP FI’s efforts to make financial flows consistent with the needed limitation of greenhouse emissions and the financing of climate resilient development.

Michel Sapin, Minister of Finance, France

Sustainability is an important factor in the long-term success of a business. Therefore as with any other issue related to the prudent management of capital, considering sustainability is not only important to upholding fiduciary duty, it is obligatory. As the context of business and investing continues to shift, implementing a framework for allocating capital that embeds sustainability into it will be critical to successfully navigate the transition.

David Blood, Generation Investment Management

As a collective pension fund, ERAFP is in the business of paying pensions. We will have to invest in assets that will provide performance benefits for 60-70 years. If you consider that very simple objective, it means that you should better consider what makes that asset resilient, what makes that asset sustainable. Taking that into account, understanding your fiduciary duty becomes simple. I encourage you to support this Statement.

Philippe Desfosses, ERAFP

Some institutional investors still face difficulties in reconciling their duties towards their beneficiaries with integrating ESG factors into their investment decision-making. These barriers are largely practical and include the perception that integrating ESG factors requires a financial trade-off, as well as the lack of a standardised approach to incorporating ESG factors. The OECD has a long standing interest in investment governance and encourages institutional investors to address environmental, social and governance risks. We welcome PRI and UNEP FI’s work to ensure that investors take account of long-term investment value drivers, including ESG factors, in their investment processes and decision-making.

Emmy Labovitch, OECD

We welcome this important initiative that the PRI is taking and look forward to seeing it succeed. We absolutely agree that policymakers need to clarify investors’ obligations and duties in relation to the integration of ESG issues into investment practice. This is a central requirement when looking to unlock capital to further sustainable growth.

Steve Waygood, Aviva Investors

Investing needs high quality data, but we also need to think clearly about how the future will unfold. On the topic of climate change, all investors are “future takers” – that is, they’ll be impacted by whatever scenario comes to pass. Increasingly, investors also behave as “future makers”, seeking to influence the scenario they would like to see in order to better manage and anticipate ESG risks and opportunities. This Statement is a call to action from investors to regulators, encouraging them to enable effective future taker and future maker behaviour.

Jane Ambachtsheer, Mercer Investments

Produced in collaboration with UNEP FI and Generation Foundation