UK - The UN-backed Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI) coalition and research group Enhanced Analytics Initiative (EAI) have announced a collaboration under the PRI banner.

The move is intended to encourage cross membership and embed environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues into members' investment strategies.

EAI, headed by former London Pension Fund Authority (LPFA) chief Peter Scales, is an investor-led group seeking to encourage investment research to look at 'extra-financial' issues such as ESG factors, currently representing total assets under management of €1.2trn.

"The first step is to encourage the development and use of extra-financial research by a broader group of investors. But we also need to think more about how the research is being integrated into our investment processes" said Donald MacDonald, trustee of the BT Pension Scheme and chair of the PRI Board.

The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), one of Britain's largest pension funds, said it would back the joint initiative.

Peter Moon, chief investment officer at the fund, said the EAI needs to build a global position in order to remain successful: "The PRI has a global reach, therefore this collaboration provides a perfect opportunity to ensure that we see this better research provison in all markets around the world."

The PRI standards were established in early 2006, though the organisation has since been criticised for demanding too little of its signatories, which now amount to around 400 companies.

The principles recommend actions to investors for incorporating environmental, social and governance issues into mainstream investment decision-making and ownership practices.

Investors who have not signed up to the principles have complained that incorporating all standards could be problematic.

Earlier this year, RailPen Investments, the investment management arm of the £20bn (€25bn) UK Railway pension fund, said it had not yet joined the coalition because of uncertainty about its ability to meet the standards

The decision to join forces follows the announcement in January 2007 of a formal collaboration between PRI and EAI.

If you have any comments you would like to add to this or any other story, contact Carolyn Bandel on +44 (0)20 7261 4622 or email carolyn.bandel@ipe.com

Topics