UN+Principles+for+Responsible+Investment+(UNPRI)

=United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment toc (This insert has been modified to satisfy the theme of sustainable tax planning)

The [|United Nations Principles for Responsible Investments] was the outcome of discussions initially between United Nations and the world's largest institutional investors ignited in 2005 and nowadays the UNPRI is signed by a total of 1224 signatories. In April 2006 at [|New York Stock Exchange] the former [|UN Secretary-General] [|Kofi Annan] launched the UNPRI. Since the launch in 2006 the assets under management have increased from $4 trillion to cover more than $34 trillion today (15% of the world's investable assets). Responsible investment does explicitly emphasize on the importance and relevance of environmental, social, and governance ([|ESG]) factors that the investors face. The UNPRI initiative //"// //recognises that the generation of long-term sustainable returns is dependent on stable, well-functioning and well governed social, environmental and economic systems"// (accessed on December 2nd, 2013, on the UNPRI web page at []. One of the factors that have significantly contributed to the expansion of the initiative has been the existing poor corporate governance practices which have affected the shareholders value and in the end accumulated to the global financial crises. The initiative is driving issues on transparency, corruption, board structure, shareholder rights, business ethics, risk management and executive compensation to the light of the investors.



The Six Principles of Responsible Investment

 * 1) We will incorporate ESG issues into investment analysis and decision-making processes.
 * 2) We will be active owners and incorporate ESG issues into our ownership policies and practices.
 * 3) We will seek appropriate disclosure on ESG issues by the entities in which we invest.
 * 4) We will promote acceptance and implementation of the Principles within the investment industry.
 * 5) We will work together to enhance our effectiveness in implementing the Principles.
 * 6) We will each report on our activities and progress towards implementing the Principles

Reporting Assessment of signatories
The goal of the UNPRI is to raise awareness of sustainable investing as well as promote good and transparent reporting of activities as well as contributing to development of the area of responsible investments. The signatories have their own obligation to fulfill transparency requirements which is implemented through annual reporting and assessment process. The three main areas of the reporting is designed to provide //accountability of the PRI initiative, Disclosure and transparency for signatories,// and //Assessment of signatories.

Some of the main contributions from SRI within UNPRI
One of the key factors in principle 1 is that the signatories should have the initiative to encourage academic and other research in this theme which includes investigations and academic publications on the theme and related issues. It should also be in the signatories interest to participate in collaborative engagement initiatives which might e.g. be carbon disclosure project (CDP), International Corporate Governance Network , and/or on supportive basis to World Business Council for Sustainable Development . In the principle number 3 signatories should seek for appropriate disclosure related to ESG issues such as ask companies for [[@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Reporting_Initiative|Global Reporting Initiative , or for companies which have not yet established a relationship with this initiative, to ask them to incorporate this initiative to their business and operations. For this wiki-insert [[@http://www.unglobalcompact.org/AboutTheGC/TheTenPrinciples/principle10.html|Global Compact Principle 10 on anti-corruption is of high importance. For signatories of UNPRI it is of high importance that their investments are allocated to companies which are following high standards and act in the good light of the codes of conduct of international conventions and initiatives such as UN Global Compact and OECD's guidelines for [[‍‍‍Multinational corporations (MNCs)|multinational enterprices [[file:OECDMultiNatEnter2011.pdf where chapter 11 is of especially high importance in this insert as it is covering taxation:

"The Guidelines are the first international corporate responsibility instrument to cover taxation, contributing to and drawing upon a significant body of work on taxation, most notably the OECD Model Tax Convention and the UN Model Double Taxation Convention between Developed and Developing Countries. "

(Source: OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises - Responsible Business Conduct Matters [] page 11)

According to Chapter 11 of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Corporations on taxation a corporation has the legitimate obligation to follow stated tax regulations in the countries where it operates. The signatories of the UNPRI initiative should also act as active owners and engage in open dialogue to further enhance the benefits of responsible investments within different stakeholder groups and initiatives.

An interview of Erik Breen, Head of Responsible Investing at Robeco, on how his organisation uses ESG research. media type="custom" key="24587984"