PRI awards: demonstrating leadership and innovation in responsible investment

Intro / Hook

The PRI Awards showcase the very best in responsible investment — but they also reveal much more. In this episode Paul Van Eynde, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer at the PRI chats to award judge Claire Hierons of the Laudes Foundation and Dan Neale from the Church Commissioners for England, shortlisted for recognition. The conversation highlights how investors are embracing stewardship, system-level thinking, and accountability to drive real-world impact.

Overview

The PRI Awards are designed to spotlight leadership and innovation among PRI signatories, spanning asset owners, investment managers, and service providers. With over 139 submissions this year across categories including climate, nature, human rights, stewardship, and communications, the awards reflect the diversity and maturity of responsible investment worldwide.

Claire Hierons shares insights from her experience as a judge, noting the evolution of systemic stewardship and the growing sophistication of entries. Dan Neale discusses the Church Commissioners’ submission on the Investor Initiative for Human Rights Data (IIHRD) and why human rights must be central to addressing systemic risks such as climate change and inequality.

Detailed Coverage

• The role of the PRI Awards: Encouraging leadership, transparency, and innovation across the investment chain.
• Global coverage: Submissions from emerging and developed markets, showing that sustainability leadership is not limited by geography.
• Church Commissioners’ human rights initiative: Collaboration with global investors to strengthen human rights data, integrate it into stewardship, and ensure accountability across public markets.
• Systemic responsibility: Both guests stress the need for investors to see fiduciary duty not only as delivering returns but also as protecting the systems that underpin future value.

Chapters

• 00:44 – Introduction to the PRI Awards and categories
• 05:45 – Reflections on judging the awards
• 08:00 – Trends in responsible investment submissions
• 10:47 – The rise of global leadership in sustainability
• 11:42 – The Church Commissioners and their stewardship approach
• 14:05 – The Investor Initiative for Human Rights Data (IIHRD)
• 16:18 – Human rights as a systemic risk
• 17:12 – Embedding human rights into policy and stewardship practices
• 19:16 – Addressing data gaps and disclosure challenges
• 24:19 – What does “The Responsibility of Investing” mean today?

Keywords

responsible investment, PRI Awards, Laudes Foundation, Church Commissioners, stewardship, systemic risk, fiduciary duty, sustainability in finance, climate change, biodiversity, human rights in investing, ESG data, IIHRD, universal asset owners, just transition, investor innovation, responsible business practices, transparency in investing, New York Climate Week