Global responsible investment trends: inside PRI reporting data

This analysis charts the development of global responsible investment practices, based on responses from 3,048 signatories in our latest reporting cycle.

These findings build on previous PRI publications analysing Reporting Framework data from the last three years.

Note: reporting was not mandatory in 2024 for investor signatories that had reported publicly in 2023, or for new signatories in their grace period. This data does not cover reporting data from service provider signatories.

Key findings

Investor signatories are expanding their RI practices with the aim of enhancing risk-adjusted returns.

C-suite priorities – most senior leaders identify value creation, long-term value and risk management as key to the investment case for responsible investment (see p.11).
Analysis of material issues – four fifths of signatories with combined AUM of US$82.7 trillion1 identify climate-related risks and opportunities (see p.25).
Action on outcomes – a significant proportion (65%) of signatories take action to address sustainability outcomes, with almost 50% identifying financial materiality as the key investment case (see pp. 12-13).

Asset owners are demonstrating greater action and ambition.

Collaborative stewardship – 48% of asset owners prioritise collaborative stewardship over conducting stewardship efforts independently, compared to 19% of investment managers (see p.17).
Paris Agreement – a higher proportion of asset owners than investment managers use the Paris Agreement as a framework to identify sustainability outcomes connected to investments (45% vs 25%) (see p.12).
Escalation in stewardship – almost double the percentage of asset owners compared to investment managers are willing to use public engagement as a means of escalating dialogues with corporate debt issuers (see p.14).
Identifying climate-related risks – asset owners are likelier than investment managers to take a longer-term approach to identifying climate-related risks and opportunities and to use climate scenario analysis (58% vs 29%) (see p.5).
These differences reflect organisational structure, client demands, regulatory environments and levels of ambition.

Analyses of investment managers’ approaches to responsible investment are becoming more granular.

Broad-based action – asset owners’ integration of responsible investment objectives and considerations into the selection of managers is now well developed and the data shows practices continue to mature (see p.19).
Voting alignment – areas of notable year-on-year change include evaluation of proxy voting polices (see p.20).
Contracts – most asset owner signatories reported including clauses relating to RI in contractual agreements with external managers (see p.20).

Action in private markets is continuing to expand.

Growth in private market assets – in the last five years, PRI signatories have increased allocation to private markets, resulting in the increasing frequency of private equity terms such as ‘value creation’ in signatory responses (see p.9).
Contractual agreements – a large and increasing number of private markets investors incorporate RI commitments within limited partnership agreements (LPAs), with infrastructure investors leading the way (see p.21).
Stewardship – the data shows widespread stewardship activities being undertaken by LPs and GPs in private markets, with common steps including implementing 100-day plans, introducing roadmaps and using benchmarks (see pp.16-17).

More investors are taking action to address climate-related risks and opportunities.

Focal issue – senior leaders continue to focus on climate as a key priority for responsible capital allocation and stewardship (see p.10).
Stewardship – engaging, voting and other stewardship activities are seen as a central means of meeting climate commitments. For example, most listed equity signatories have specific proxy voting policies on environmental factors and more than 500 signatories participate in or support the Climate Action 100+ initiative (see p.15).
Investment – signatories have also been developing capital allocation strategies to implement commitments, including investment exclusions (see p.25), allocation to green bonds (see p.14) and transition finance strategies (see p.27).

Social issues are rising up the agenda.

Policies – social issues feature in an increasing number of RI policies. For example, 64% of signatories have specific guidelines on human rights (see p.28).
Implementation – approaches to governance, oversight and action on social policies are still developing, with almost a third of signatories conducting human rights due diligence (see p.28).
UNGPs – leading signatories use the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) as a guiding framework and have put this into action by, for example, enabling access to remedy (see pp.28-29).