Many people pay into the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) through paycheque deductions and become beneficiaries of the same when they retire. For those of you that are concerned on where your investments are going, including the CPP where one of the largest pension plans in the world are spending our funds, we would encourage you to have a closer look.
The long-term sustainability of all of our investments will increasingly rely on investment organizations factoring in ‘climate risk’ into their portfolios. Those firms that fail to do so, risk finding their assets achieving reduced returns, if not becoming ‘stranded’. The influence these pension plans have in encouraging ‘good’ cannot be understated. Money talks and, after all, this is the UN’s Decade of Action.
We have signed the pledge noted herein, and encourage you to consider doing so once you feel you have an adequate understanding of the issue, and/or share the petition with others. The petition is at https://you.leadnow.ca/petitions/stop-investing-the-canada-pension-plan-in-fossil-fuels. At this site, you’ll find the following points:
“The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) is one of the largest pension funds in the world, managing $434.4 billion on behalf of more than 20 million working and retired Canadians. The CPP is invested by an independent, arms-length crown corporation called CPP Investments, with a mandate to invest in the best interests of Canadians (outside of Quebec) and ensure the long-term sustainability of Canadian’s pensions.
How the CPP invests our retirement dollars is a major factor in how quickly Canada and the world can transition to a zero-carbon economy while growing our pension savings in a warming world. The decisions of pension funds like the CPP have major influence over whether companies build electric cars and solar panels, or diesel engines and oil and gas infrastructure.
The CPP provides little information on how it’s investing our retirement savings, but we’ve learned that the CPP:
- Currently owns about $12 billion worth of fossil fuel companies– nearly double what it does in renewable energy;
- Has $141 million invested in Chinese coal companies;
- Owns a fracking company in Colorado that is drilling wells next to schools, homes and playgrounds, and donated over US$600,000 to pro-fracking candidates and Big Oil interest groups in
- Colorado’s 2018 state elections;
- Bought Irish offshore gas reserves from Shell in 2017, only to see the new Irish government ban licenses for new offshore gas exploration and production this year;
- Owns billions of dollars in shares in the most polluting oil sands, gas, coal and pipeline companies.
- By the end of fiscal year 2020, the CPP’s “Energy and Resources” portfolio dropped 23.4 per cent– the worst return of any asset group.
These risky fossil fuel investments are incompatible with Canadian and global climate commitments, and are inconsistent with the CPP’s mandate to invest in the best interests of Canadians.
You can send questions to the CPP today. Demand better and ask the CPP to stop investing our shared retirement savings in risky fossil fuels.”
A couple of related reports can be accessed at: Fossil Futures: The Canada Pension Plan’s Failure to Respect the 1.5-Degree Celsius Limit; and Canada’s Pension Funds and Climate Risk: A Baseline for Engagement.
Also worth noting is the New York Pension Fund is divesting in fossil fuel investments:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/nyregion/new-york-pension-fossil-fuels.html