PRI Signatory General Meeting – 21st October 2025

The PRI’s annual Signatory General Meeting (SGM), held on 21 October, centred around a theme that’s becoming increasingly critical in today’s investment landscape: resilience.

From climate shocks to geopolitical shifts, the PRI made clear that responsible investment is not just about values - it’s about value. The meeting reflected a rearticulation of ESG as a tool for risk management and long-term value creation, particularly in light of growing scrutiny from US-based signatories and the broader anti-ESG movement. The key message is that responsible investment equals good business and strengthens returns and resilience.

Leadership & Strategic Direction

A key announcement was the appointment of Cambria Allen-Ratzlaff as Interim Chief Executive  Officer, effective December 2025. Based in the US, Allen-Ratzlaff brings experience from her previous role as Chief Responsible Investment Ecosystems Officer. The PRI emphasised her remit of ensuring continuity and stability, reassuring signatories that it remains committed to supporting those under pressure while continuing to strengthen responsible investment infrastructure across emerging markets.

Language, Legitimacy and the “Average Citizen”

Chair, Connor Kehoe, encouraged signatories to recentre their focus on beneficiaries and clients, aligning sustainability efforts with stakeholder demand to reinforce legitimacy in politically sensitive environments. The PRI emphasised moving responsible investment beyond “pioneering and preaching” toward “consolidating and embedding”.

They also advised using language that resonates with beneficiaries – for example, framing decarbonisation as “securing long-term energy supplies” – to ease concerns. This mirrors what we’re hearing from clients, many of whom are prioritising sustainability-linked risk management and value creation.

Emerging Challenges and Market Dynamics

The PRI acknowledged the need to evolve. New challenges – AI, geopolitics, demographic shifts – are reshaping the investment landscape and the PRI’s focus moving forwards is on providing its signatories with clear direction and support on these emerging, and evolving, topics. The PRI acknowledged shifts in the investment landscape itself. The rise of passive investing and private equity means adapting and enhancing some of the long-established methods of RI Integration. A growing short-termism (average share ownership now just 13 months) also brings its own challenges for the PRI which must consider how best to support its signatory base to incorporate longer-term sustainability risks.

Encouragingly, the PRI continues to build momentum in emerging markets. The upcoming PRI in Person event in São Paulo, Brazil, underscores this commitment, as does the addition of emerging market voices to advisory committees and growing responsible investment adoption among Asian investors.

Reporting and Engagement Tools

Reducing the reporting burden didn’t get the same attention in this year’s SGM as it has done previously, with the PRI hoping that this concern has been addressed with the introduction of its new, somewhat slimmed down but still mandatory, reporting framework. Momentum was clearly still behind PRI Reporting in 2025, with 60%+ of signatories completing full reporting.

The new framework is set to launch next month, and signatories can expect customisable peer benchmarking, new voluntary reporting, and, in the future, full integration with the soon to launch MyPRI platform.

Pathways, also part of MyPRI, is also due in November. It promises a tailored experience, allowing signatories to select sustainability priorities, asset classes and geographies.

Continued Momentum Across Sustainability Themes

Finally, the PRI reported strong participation - over 1,000 signatories, or ~20% of all signatories – across their initiatives on climate, nature and human rights, which are starting to see genuine progress being achieved. Mexican oil company Pemex set greenhouse gas emissions targets and improved its overall climate disclosures following engagement with members of Climate Action 100+. Importantly, the PRI has introduced more flexible participation options to accommodate signatories operating in politically sensitive contexts.

Our take

The PRI’s interpretation of the current responsible investment landscape closely aligns with what we’re observing across our own client base. Forward momentum on sustainability continues despite the language shifts seen in recent years. Much of this progress is driven by Asset Owners who, as long-term, universal investors, view sustainability as fundamental to effective risk management.

In November, the PRI is set to launch both its new mandatory reporting framework and the Pathways initiative, marking a key milestone for signatories in the preparation for next year’s reporting cycle.

At Danesmead, we offer a fully managed PRI reporting service driven by our proprietary platform and deep expertise; delivering improvements to our clients’ reporting outcomes year-on-year. We can also provide targeted support through gap analyses and peer review reports.

If you’d like to learn more about our PRI offering, we’d be happy to talk.