This report summarises the research and outreach activities carried out under the Fiduciary Duty in the 21st Century programme, convened by UNEP FI and the PRI, with the generous financial support of The Generation Foundation. The final report on Fiduciary Duty in the 21st Century presents the conclusions of the 4-year research and detailed analysis by country.
The programme’s reach between 2015-2019 includes:
- Over 1’000 policy makers, investors and stakeholders engaged
- +30 in-person events in 15 jurisdictions
- 25 country roadmaps and related reports
- 21 jurisdictions covered of which 6, including the EU, have effectively issued investor guidance and/or clarified investor duties in regulation to include ESG factors
The programme concluded that the fiduciary duties of investors require them to:
- Incorporate [financially material] ESG issues into investment analysis and decision making processes, consistent with their investment time horizons [e.g. climate change]
- Encourage high standards of ESG performance in the companies or other entities in which they invest.
- Understand and incorporate beneficiaries’ and savers’ sustainability-related preferences, regardless of whether these preferences are financially material.
- Support the stability and resilience of the financial system.
- Report on how they have implemented these commitments.
The next stage of this work – the Legal Framework for Impact – will identify barriers and pathways for impact management / outcomes integration into investment decision making processes from a legal and regulatory perspective.
Read the 2015-2019 programme’s output in the Final Activity Report here.
Read the final substantive report, Fiduciary Duty in the 21st Century (2019), here.