Recorded at PRI in Person just after the sustainable food system breakout, the PRI’s Danielle Carreira sat down with Peter van der Werf, Director of Active Ownership at Robeco.   

They discussed key takeaways from the sustainable food system breakout; whether there is clear alignment between company and investor perception of risk and what is material when it comes to food security; and the importance of investor engagement and collaboration on the topic.

At PRI in Person, the PRI’s Elena Espinoza spoke with John Howchin, Secretary-General, Council of Ethics of the Swedish National Pension Funds, and Jaime Gornsztejn, Director, Hermes EOS, about tailings in the mining sector.

We sat down with them following a breakout session with Amanda Andrade, a survivor of the Brumadinho dam disaster in early 2019. We discussed what the opportunities are for investor action. How can investors effectively carry out engagements with mining companies? What are the new investor expectations on mining companies? And what will be the consequences for companies who don’t comply with these expectations?    

Length: 11:03

The PRI's Head of Academic Research, Katherine Ng, is joined by Jim Hawley, Head of Applied Research at TruValue Labs and Professor Emeritus, Saint Mary's College of California; and Jon Lukomnik, former Executive Director, IRCC Institute, and soon to be Visiting Professor, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.

In this podcast, they discuss modern portfolio theory, or MPT. Is it just a theory? Why should investors care? Is there a problem and what can be done about it?

Length: 28.08

Wolf Kirsten (Global Centre for Healthy Workplaces) joins the PRI’s Bettina Reinboth to discuss the role investors can play to promote workplace health and well-being. They explore the relationship between corporate good practices in promoting health and well-being and financial performance, and the indicators investors can use to assess companies’ performance in this space.  

Richard Murphy, a chartered accountant, political economist, and co-founder of the Tax Justice Network, joins PRI’s Vaishnavi Ravishankar to discuss the OECD’s BEPS project with a particular focus on Action 13 and Country-by-Country reporting. Together, they unpack the concept by discussing the merits as well as challenges associated with requirements.

Marc Robert (Water Asset Management) and Michael Alexander (Diageo) join the PRI's Gemma James to explore how water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) issues in company operations and supply chains affect investors and why investors should engage on the topic.

Olivier Van Hirtum and Jaideep Singh Panwar join the PRI’s Nabylah Abo Dehman to discuss the role of cobalt in battery technology and the human rights risks associated with the sourcing of cobalt. They explore the impact of electric vehicles growth on the demand for cobalt and the key role that investors can play in pushing for the adoption of more responsible sourcing practices of cobalt.

Georgie Erangey, an independent business and human rights consultant joins the PRI's Naheeda Chowdhury to explore the challenges and opportunities presented by section 54 of the UK Modern Slavery Act and how this ground-breaking disclosure clause will impact organisations beyond their first year statement. Together, they discuss the role that investors can play in tackling the issue of modern slavery.

Måns Carlsson- Sweeny (Ausbil Investment Management) joins the PRI's Bettina Reinboth to explore how investors can engage with apparel companies to encourage better labour practices in the apparel industry. They discuss PRI’s recent investor briefing on the topic, including various red flags that investors should look out for which may indicate negative human rights practices in investee apparel companies and recommendations for effective investor-company engagement.

Sudip Hazra (Kepler-Cheuvreux) joins the PRI's Bettina Reinboth to explore the issue migration and why it is a material issue for investors. They explore the link to a number of other ESG issues, including labour skills, human rights and climate change.

Monthly, 5 minute roundup of the latest responsible investment and ESG news. This month's topics include HSBC's sustainable agriculture policy, the G20 Energy Efficiency Investment toolkit, Occidental's shareholder resolution on climate change and more car emissions problems with Fiat Chrysler and Daimler.

Hongqiao Liu (China Water Risk) joins the PRI's Gemma James to discuss rare earth minerals and their importance to investors. As a key component in many new technologies, such as electronics and renewable energy, the sustainable supply of these "vitamins of industry" is becoming increasingly critical. 

Monthly, 5 minute roundup of the latest responsible investment and ESG news. This month's topics include the sale of the UK Green Investment Bank, investments and divestments by the Ford Foundation and PKA, and new reports from the Asset Owners Disclosure Project and OECD.

David Harris (Group Head of Sustainable Business, London Stock Exchange Group), Christopher Szpojnarowicz (Company Secretary & Head of Legal, Unite Students) and James Corah (Head of Ethical and Responsible Investment, CCLA) join the PRI's Nathan Fabian to discuss recent work by the UN's Sustainable Stock Exchange initiative and its partners to improve transparency on ESG information for investors.

Sister Nora Nash (ICCR) joins the PRI's Olivia Mooney to discuss the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR)'s engagement and shareholder resolution activities in relation to the banking sector.

Robert Eccles (Chairman of Arabesque Partners) and Mirtha Kastrapeli (Head of Sustainable Investment Research at State Street’s Center for Applied Research) join the PRI's Danielle Chesebrough to discuss their recent paper "The Investing Enlightenment" based on global surveys of 582 institutional investors and 750 retail investors.

Monthly, 5 minute roundup of the latest responsible investment and ESG news. This month's topics include Lloyds' report on stranded assets, the new Fish Tracker Initiative, ACTIAM's water-neutrality goal, NAB and gender equality bonds, and the Shareholders' Rights Directive.

Robert Wilson (MFS Investment Management) joins the PRI's Athanasia Karananou to discuss the issue of tax and why this matters to investors. This covers Robert's work as part of a PRI-led investor taskforce to explore and engage on the issue of corporate tax responsibility.

Monthly, 5 minute roundup of the latest responsible investment and ESG news. This month's topics include investor statements on climate change and the SEC's conflict minerals rule, recent oil majors' results, investor guidance for engaging the banking sector on low carbon transition and a McKinsey study on long- vs short-termism.

Martin Skancke (Chair of the PRI Board and FSB Task Force member) joins the PRI's Sagarika Chatterjee to discuss the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and what their recently released recommendations mean for investors.

Monthly, 5 minute roundup of the latest responsible investment and ESG news. This month's topics include the FSB Task Force on Climate-related Disclosures, ExxonMobil, Rolls-Royce, Fiat Chrysler, Samsung, Deutsche Bank and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Monthly, 5 minute roundup of the latest responsible investment and ESG news. This month's topics include the the Marrakech Climate Change Conference (COP22), oil and gas companies, the car emissions scandal (Renault and VW), and Rio Tinto.

Sean Wright (Environmental Defense Fund) and Matthias Beer (BMO GAM) join the PRI's Gemma James to discuss why methane emissions are a material issue for investors in the context of climate change. This coincides with the launch of a new investor guide to methane on how to manage the risks through company engagement.

Kathy Mulvey (Union of Concerned Scientists) joins the PRI's Paul Chandler to discuss why corporate lobbying on climate change matters to investors, as well as the findings from UCS' new report: The Climate Accountability Scorecard - Ranking Major Fossil Fuel Companies on Climate Deception, Disclosure, and Action

Monthly, 5 minute roundup of the latest responsible investment and ESG news. This month's topics include the flurry of recent global climate deals, Yahoo's data breach, gender diversity in mining and Morningstar's new sustainability indices.