The investors will continue to follow the principles, but will remain outside the organisation until it again lives up to basic requirements for good corporate governance – including restoring membership democracy in the organisation.
In a joint statement, the group of investors, consisting of ATP, Industriens Pension, PensionDanmark, PFA, PKA and Sampension, declare the following:
"The UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) have an important role to play in promoting responsible investment – including emphasising the importance of good governance in companies around the world.
We have, nonetheless, over a sustained period of time observed with concern that the governance of the PRI organisation does not live up to the basic standards we as investors would expect of the companies in which we invest.
Despite numerous attempts to improve the conditions within PRI, we must, unfortunately, acknowledge that these attempts have not been successful.
Therefore, we have chosen to leave the PRI organisation until the organisation re-establishes the fundamental principles of governance that existed before the organisation in 2010-11 on its own initiative radically changed the organisation's constitution without the involvement or consent of its members at the time.
We will continue to be dedicated supporters of the six principles on which the organisation was originally founded.
As a consequence of leaving the PRI organisation, from 2014 and onwards we will not be able to report to the organisation on our implementation of the six principles. We will, however, continue to report on how our individual organisations work with responsible investment – including our compliance with the six principles.
Should the PRI organisation at a later stage endeavour to substantiate that the governance of the organisation has improved to a satisfactory level, we will as individual investors give serious thought to re-entering the organisation."
The six Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)
As institutional investors, we have a duty to act in the best long-term interests of our beneficiaries. In this fiduciary role, we believe that environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues can affect the performance of investment portfolios (to varying degrees across companies, sectors, regions, asset classes and over time). We also recognise that applying these Principles may better align investors with the broader objectives of society. Therefore, where consistent with our fiduciary responsibilities, we commit to the following:
We will incorporate ESG issues into investment analysis and decision-making processes.
We will be active owners and incorporate ESG issues into our ownership policies and practices.
We will seek appropriate disclosure on ESG issues by the entities in which we invest.
We will promote acceptance and implementation of the Principles within the investment industry.
We will work together to enhance our effectiveness in implementing the Principles.
We will each report on our activities and progress towards implementing the Principles.
The PRI organisation
The PRI organisation is a private network organisation working to spread the six Principles for Responsible Investment. The Principles were launched by a group of international investors with the support of UNEP FI and the Global Compact in 2006.
Until 2010, the organisation was governed by normal standards for such an organisation, but after a change of constitution without the knowledge of the members at the time, the governance of the organisation was radically changed. This change remains the cause of the current governance issues.
