Nineteen pension funds and providers from across Europe have made it on to the Principles for Responsible Investment’s (PRI) leaders' group for 2019.

PRI said the group showcases PRI signatories that demonstrate both a breadth of responsible investment excellence, and that excel specifically in this year’s theme: Selection, appointment and monitoring of external managers.

“Our evaluation focused specifically on listed equity and private equity, as these are the asset classes where we have the most developed work on identifying good industry practice, and are most able to support signatories. The group of leading signatories is roughly equivalent to 10 per cent of all asset owner signatories,” PRI said.

It stated that there is no ranking within the group, and it congratulated the 47 asset owners selected, in particular for their “responsible investment work in the field of selecting, appointing and monitoring external managers in listed and/or private equity”.

The European funds and providers selected include three from Sweden, AP1, AP2 and AP5, two from Finland, the Church Pension Fund and Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company, and four from France, Caisse des Depots et Consignations, Fonds de Reserve pour les Retraites, ERAFP and Ircantec.

The list also includes five from the UK: Environment Agency Pension Fund, Strathclyde Pension Fund, BT Pension Scheme, TPT Retirement Solutions and the Universities Superannuation Scheme. The Netherlands has three representatives on the list, which are, Pensioenfonds PNO Media, Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP, and Stichting Pensioenfonds voor de Woningcorporaties.

Germany has one fund on the list, Verka VK Kirchliche Vorsorge VVaG, along with Austria, VBV Vorsorgekasse AG.

Sweden’s AP2, CEO Eva Halvarsson said: “I am extremely proud and happy that PRI is paying attention to our work and identified us to the leaders' group. This is further proof that AP2 is a leader in sustainability and that our work is really at the forefront.”

The PRI works to understand the investment implications of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and to support its international network of investor signatories in incorporating these factors into their investment and ownership decisions.

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