Asset managers are “crying out” for more leadership from asset owners on responsible investment, the chief executive officer of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) told delegates at an industry conference this week.
Speaking at the Sustainable Investment Forum Europe 2025 in Paris earlier this week, David Atkin said responsible investment was facing a difficult time, but that there were some constant “truths”.
One had to do with the role of asset owners and how their “demand signals can inform the way responsible investment is implemented”. Asset owners will approach sustainability-related issues in different ways, but ultimately “it’s the asset owners that have the power to deliver our shared mission through the allocation of mandates”, Atkin said.
“Asset managers recognise this and in my experience they are crying out for more asset owner leadership,” he continued. “Almost without exception, asset managers tell me that if there’s one thing that could help them stay the course, it would be to have clear, specific mandates with long-term performance metrics from asset owner clients.”
Addressing the asset owners in the room, he said: “Articulating demand signals in favour of responsible investment may be the most impactful action you can take in support of global sustainability goals.”
A clampdown on ESG investing in the US has forced, or allowed, some US asset managers to walk away from collaborative sustainability initiatives such as Climate Action 100+ and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative and the spotlight is on asset owners to see how they will respond.
Some have already cut ties with asset managers at least in part due to concerns about their sustainability-related commitments.
‘Reasserting financial materiality’
According to the PRI’s Atkin, the way forward for responsible investment is for the industry to “stay focussed on the underlying financial materiality of sustainability issues” as this way “the investment case cannot be derailed”.
He said the PRI was working on a project to “re-articulate the financial case” for responsible investment.
“We’re aiming to equip the industry with stronger evidence, better communication tools and enhanced resources to re-assert the financial materiality of sustainability issues and to support investors in factoring them into their investment decisions,” he said.
The PRI is due to launch in November its “Pathways” offering to signatories, with a first look of this already available on the organisation’s website.
The Pathways are being introduced as part of the PRI’s new strategy, and represent three different approaches or “pre-defined journeys” that signatories can choose to follow. Investors can choose to declare themselves as managing risk (pathway A), addressing system-level risk (pathway B) or pursuing impact (pathway C).
The PRI says there is no hierarchy between the pathways, “which have been designed to recognise the range of valid roles investors play in a sustainable financial system”.
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Susanna is ESG Editor at IPE, steering the publication's coverage of responsible investment news and analysis. She has a penchant for EU regulation, which also sees her covering EU pensions policy, and is a bit of a newshound so may drift into other areas, too.View full Profile
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