PRI unveils three courses for ESG staff

By ESG Clarity

The Principle for Responsible Investment (PRI) has launched three online courses for staff in the investment industry to address the “ESG skills gap”.

The organisation said the rapid growth in ESG investing presents a challenge to companies within the investment sector who need to ensure their staff are familiar with key ESG issues at every stage of the investment process.

As a result, within the PRI Academy it has launched three courses for various roles and levels – including those with direct responsibility for responsible decisions, those who need to understand ESG issues from a marketing and communications perspective, and operational roles where a working knowledge of responsible investment principles is desirable.

The courses are:

1. Understanding Responsible Investment: This course introduces the principles that underlie and define responsible investment. The course is ideally suited to those who need a working understanding of responsible investment, such as client-facing staff, sales and marketing professionals and the wider organisational team.
2. Applied Responsible Investment: The Academy’s flagship training programme, providing a comprehensive examination of responsible investment from theory to practice. The course focuses on the practical application of ESG concepts in investment and ownership decisions, and as such is well-suited to those who advise on or make investment decisions.
3. Advanced Responsible Investment Analysis: The third course provides an in-depth and applied examination of the use of sustainability data in fundamental analysis and is designed for investment analysts and portfolio managers.

The PRI said courses have been tailored in response to the evolving market, for example with new information on the EU Taxonomy and how investors are looking to fixed income for responsible investments.

Commenting, PRI CEO Fiona Reynolds, said: “The PRI is committed to facilitating positive change by educating and convening investors across the spectrum of ESG issues. A key consideration underpinning this is the level of knowledge around responsible investment. As ESG issues become more advanced, it’s increasingly clear that firms who truly embed these issues into every stage of their process are best placed to not only discharge their responsibilities as ESG-aligned investors, but also to seize the opportunities that ESG investment offers.”

The courses were developed in conjunction with PRI subject-matter experts and thought leaders across the industry.