The Implementation of United Nation´s Principles for Responsible Investments among Swedish Investors : A paradigm shift within reach?

• Main Author: Horwitz, Martin
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Stockholms universitet, Stockholm Resilience Centre 2010
• Subjects: Effects; Implementation; Influences; Motivation; Social Responsible Investment; Swedish Investors; United Nations Principles for Responsible Investments; Social Sciences Interdisciplinary; Tvärvetenskapliga studier inom samhällsvetenskap
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-57733

Responsible Investments is currently paving new paths in the financial industry. UnitedNation´s Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) has in four years attracted over 700signatories in 36 countries. The principles are voluntary and kept in an open non-governingstructure. The lack of formal definitions and the actual value or effects of the UN PRIadoption is difficult to assess. Many researchers today are involved in attempts to measure thefinancial performance of responsible investments. This study takes a different stand point andinvestigates the motivation for joining UN PRI, how the implementation has been carried outand what the effects are, by the use of a case study. The six largest investors in terms of assetunder management (AUM) among the Swedish UN PRI signatories were interviewed, and aqualitative based semi structured interview was used. A structural analysis was carried out onthe results. Institutional Theory was used to explain the motivation for joining UN PRI andserved as the theoretical framework. Interpretation of UN PRI´s implementation differed insome instances to a large degree between the respondents. Transparency was uncovered as amajor success factor to the investors in support of decision making. All interviewedsignatories had developed their own way of working with UN PRI in terms of organization,priorities and the attempts to measure its effects. There is still a great need for moreknowledge around how these principles shall be implemented successfully and become part ofmainstream investments.The target audience for this paper is academics or business professionals with an interest inwhy and how UN´s principles for responsible investments are adopted by the financialindustry.