Norway’s NOK22.2trn (€2trn) sovereign wealth fund has criticised the Principles for Responsible Investment’s (PRI) new three-year strategy, warning against expanding into areas of sustainability policymaking while urging it to focus on stewardship and bringing investors together.
Responding to the PRI’s 2026 strategy consultation, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) – the asset manager to Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) – said the organisation offered greatest value through its “genuinely unique” ability to convene responsible investors across markets and asset classes.
NBIM, which is a founding PRI signatory, said this role supported peer exchange and helped investors apply shared principles globally.
The UN-backed body asked its signatories about their greatest challenges and priorities. Options include climate, nature, human rights and governance issues.
It also suggests that investors may be grappling with the implications of social change, such as shifting demographics and income inequality. Defence, geopolitics and cybersecurity are also name-checked.
Caution over policy activity
NBIM’s Carine Smith Ihenacho, chief governance and compliance officer, and Alexis Wegerich, interim head of policy development, who signed the letter, encouraged the PRI to continue its capacity-building work and support academic research, including exchanges between researchers and practitioners.
The letter echoes NBIM’s previous criticism of the PRI’s strategic direction. In 2020, the fund argued that a proposed strategy shift was so significant that it required a signatory vote.
In its latest letter, NBIM welcomed the streamlining of the PRI Reporting Framework, which it said had made reporting far less burdensome while maintaining signatory accountability.
However, NBIM called for caution over broader policy activity.
Ihenacho and Wegerich wrote: “We recognise that there is signatory interest in the PRI’s policy work, and we understand that policy shapes the environment in which responsible investment takes place. Real economy policy and the development of global sustainability goals are not at the core of the mandates of most investors, and signatory views in these areas diverge.”
The fund also warned against expecting investors to mitigate system-level risks beyond their control. NBIM added that many of these risks could not be addressed through individual portfolio companies and involved real-economy policy decisions that were the responsibility of governments.
NBIM also encouraged the PRI to base its policy work and resourcing on its mission and the Six Principles, which concern investor practice and direct the organisation to address obstacles within market practices, structures and regulation.
The fund went on to stress the importance of strong shareholder rights, arguing that any weakening of those rights would reduce investors’ ability to address governance and sustainability issues.
Speaking to IPE, the PRI said: “We welcome the feedback we’ve received from signatories as we shape our 2027-30 strategy. We are now assessing all responses in detail.”
The PRI board will publish a formal response to the consultation in November.
