Wealth Strategies
The ESG Phenomenon – REYL Group Backs Nature, PRI Delists Five Signatories
We gather developments and commentary in and around the ESG investment space.
REYL Group
Geneva-based REYL
Group has announced its support for the International Union
for Conservation of Nature, a group which has a “Save Our
Species” programme to protect endangered plants and animals.
Since being founded in 2010, the programme has supported more
than 110 civil society groups in more than 75 countries,
affecting almost 500 species, REYL said in a statement.
“Biodiversity is declining at a rate that is unprecedented in
human history: human activity has severely altered more than 75
per cent of the earth’s land and freshwater areas and 66 per cent
of the oceans,” Dr Jane Smart, global director of the IUCN
Biodiversity Conservation Group, said.
REYL manages more than SFr13.5 billion ($14.7 billion) in
assets.
PRI
Worth mentioning, the
Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) has delisted five
signatories this week for failing to meet baseline expectations -
the first time the UN-backed network has been able to delist
members since devising the reporting model. In a blog posted on
Monday, PRI CEO Fiona Reynolds said that while the goal of
holding roughly 3,000 signatories to account is based on the
basis of a rising tide lifts all boats, "it doesn’t mean we can
just coast along." The decision to delist is not taken lightly
but follows two years of the PRI engaging with those seen at
risk.
Those five being delisted are charted here:
"Of the 165 signatories who were originally identified as not meeting the minimum requirements, we are now only left with five who have not been able to demonstrate meeting the requirements and for which the PRI Board has approved delisting. A further 23 signatories chose to delist themselves as part of this process, or were delisted for other reasons such as failure to submit their annual report," Reynolds said.
She added that plans are being put to the board to raise the bar on meeting the principles as the sustainable investment market matures and to reduce the review period for meeting the principles from two years down to one.
