Wolf Midstream is 99% owned by CPPIB through an initial $1 billion investment in 2015 and an additional $703 million investment in 2018. Despite the company’s critical role in Alberta’s fossil fuel and petrochemical industries, CPPIB lists Wolf under its “Sustainable Energies” portfolio. Two CPPIB managing directors sit on Wolf’s board. 

Access Pipeline System

Wolf Midstream owns and operates Alberta’s Access Pipeline System, which transports diluent north from Edmonton to oil sands sites and returns diluted bitumen south for processing or export. This pipeline system is a critical enabler of oil sands operations, facilitating the continuous flow of carbon-intensive fuels and supporting the expansion of fossil fuel production in Canada and beyond.

NGL North

Wolf also owns and operates the NGL North System, a natural gas liquids (NGL) recovery, transportation and separation system that produces NGL such as ethane, propane, butane and condensate. In July 2024, Wolf announced a $1 billion investment in its NGL Phase Two project to expand capacity on the NGL North System. Marketed as a boost for Alberta’s petrochemical industry, the project supports large-scale extraction, transport and processing of NGL – key feedstocks for plastics and chemical manufacturing. 

Alberta Carbon Trunk Line

Wolf Midstream built, owns, and operates the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line (ACTL), a 240-km pipeline that transports captured CO2 from a fertilizer plant and refinery near Edmonton to the Clive oil field. The CO2 is then used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) – a process that enables more oil production and therefore increases overall emissions. The ACTL began operations in June 2020, backed by a $305 million CPPIB investment and government subsidies.

While CPPIB promotes ACTL as a profitable and climate-friendly project, a January 2025 report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) raised serious concerns. It found that:

• ACTL operating costs rose from $30.44 per tonne of net CO2 captured in 2020 to $49.25 per tonne in 2023 – a 60% increase;

• The project underperformed on carbon capture, capturing nearly 33% less CO2 than projected;

• By using captured CO2 to produce more oil, the ACTL likely results in a net emissions increase.

IEEFA concluded that CCS projects like ACTL face financial instability, rely heavily on subsidies, and are unlikely to deliver the promised climate or economic benefits.

Wolf Carbon Solutions

Meanwhile, CPPIB’s subsidiary, Wolf Carbon Solutions, attempted to build a large CO2 pipeline in eastern Iowa that aimed to capture CO2 from ethanol plants and transport it to Illinois for underground storage. Wolf was forced to withdraw its proposal in December 2024 after it faced serious technical issues, regulatory delays and strong opposition from farmers, landowners and community groups. A similar project in Illinois had already been dropped a year earlier.

Following the Iowa withdrawal, Linn County landowner Jessica Wiskus stated: “(Carbon capture and sequestration) is not a safe technology… Wolf admitted, by their withdrawal, that the proposed CO2 pipeline project was not viable.” Emma Schmit of the Bold Alliance added: “Wolf’s withdrawal should serve as a signal to all corporations looking to profit at the expense of our communities… We will win.”

Why does CPPIB consider Wolf a “transition asset”?

In late 2024, CPPIB CEO John Graham defended Wolf as a “transition” asset, citing the company’s carbon capture expertise. In a November 2023 speech before the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Graham praised Wolf’s pipeline infrastructure – including systems that move fossil gas, CO2 and diluent to sustain oil sands output – without clarifying how this aligns with net-zero targets or a climate-safe future.

Canadian oil is among the dirtiest and most carbon-intensive in the world. Through its ownership of Wolf Midstream, CPPIB plays a central role in expanding Alberta’s oil and petrochemical industries. Despite claims of supporting climate solutions, the company’s core business remains tied to fossil fuel expansion. Its projects lock in emissions for decades and contradict global climate goals.

Wolf Carbon Solutions’ failed CO2 pipeline proposal also raises serious questions about CPPIB’s investment strategy. Why is Canada’s national retirement fund backing risky, expensive and unproven technologies like CCS and CO2 pipelines – rather than scalable, cost-effective climate solutions?

Transportadora de Gas del Perú S.A. (TgP) is 49.9% owned by CPPIB following an initial investment of US$607 million in 2013 and follow-on investments between 2014 and 2017. CPPIB invested a total of US$1.4 billion in the Peruvian company. Three senior CPPIB staff sit on TgP’s Board of Directors.

TgP is Peru’s largest exporter and transporter of fossil gas and fossil gas liquids, supplying about 40% of the country’s power generation. TgP transports fracked gas from the Amazon rainforest to the Peruvian coast.

In September 2024, TgP announced its intention to extend its transportation of fracked gas for another ten years until at least 2044. This will lock in the transportation and combustion of gas for decades to come, adding emissions to the economy and increasing climate risks. 

TgP is also proposing to build a new fossil gas pipeline that would cost around US$2 billion and stretch 923 km along the Peruvian coast. TgP's CEO highlights that the project would be a “self-financed private investment” with no state subsidies and would take around two years to build.

In August 2025, CPPIB announced it reached an agreement divest its entire stake in TgP, pending regulatory approvals.

Calpine Corp., a Texas-based power producer, is 15.75% owned by CPPIB and part of its “Sustainable Energies” portfolio. A CPPIB managing director sits on Calpine’s board. In 2025, Calpine was the largest producer of power from fossil gas in the U.S. CPPIB claimed that “Calpine serves as a good example of (its) approach to invest in companies that play a critical role in delivering affordable, reliable power while helping them progress towards the decarbonization of their portfolios.” 

While Calpine made some efforts to diversify into solar energy, battery storage and geothermal assets under CPPIB ownership, it also significantly expanded gas-fired power production. In 2021, the CEO of Hydro-Québec said that Calpine’s attempts to prolong the use of its gas plants were in “direct opposition” to environmental values and the transition to renewable energy. There is no credible evidence that Calpine is working towards decarbonization in alignment with Paris Agreement goals. Calpine plans to develop new gas plants in Texas and California.

In January 2025, CPPIB announced that it's selling its 15.75% stake in Calpine to Constellation Energy. The deal is expected to close in late 2025, following federal and state regulatory approvals. The transaction will remove Calpine’s assets from CPPIB’s portfolio and make Constellation the largest producer of gas-fired power in the U.S.

The president of Energy Capital Partners (ECP), which co-owned Calpine with CPPIB between 2018 and 2025, emphasized that its acquisition of Calpine was about prolonging the use of gas, contradicting CPPIB’s claims about decarbonization: “We knew that gas-fired assets were going to be around for the next four or five decades,” ECP president Tyler Reeder said. “It was by far the largest investment we did, but we were confident natural gas wasn’t going anywhere. Now, it almost seems obvious in retrospect.” Reeder also ignored climate risks entirely when he highlighted the “importance of adding that natural gas component” to Constellation’s portfolio amid the huge demand for energy to power the boom in AI: “you’re going to see a wave of data center deals more tied to gas-fired plants.” CPPIB’s investment partner in Calpine does not seem to share the same position about reducing emissions in the real economy, belying CPPIB’s emphasis on “decarbonization”.

LongPoint Minerals is a Denver-based company that acquires oil and fossil gas mineral and royalty interests in the U.S. These royalty interests give companies like LongPoint the right to earn a share of revenue from oil and gas production – without having to own or operate wells or infrastructure. Unlike producers operating on public lands, which must pay royalties to governments, producers on private lands pay a lower mineral tax, while royalties flow to landowners like LongPoint.  

For investors like CPPIB, royalty interests offer exposure to oil and gas profits with lower financial and reputational risk – no drilling, no pipelines, no cleanup liabilities. It’s a way to profit from fossil fuels while staying at arm’s length from the mess. 

But the climate impact is the same. CPPIB’s stake in LongPoint means it profits directly from the extraction of fossil fuels. Every dollar earned is tied to oil and gas being pulled from the ground and eventually burned. Royalty portfolios like LongPoint’s often include high-output, high-emission plays in shale basins across Texas, New Mexico and North Dakota – regions linked to massive “carbon bomb” projects that threaten to push global heating beyond 1.5°C. 

In February 2025, CPPIB reported that it invested US$807 million in fossil fuel infrastructure in the U.S. in the final quarter of 2024. According to its third quarter fiscal 2025 results, covering October 1 to December 31, 2024, CPPIB’s new fossil fuel expansion investments included: 

• Committing US$300 million to Boston-based Salamanca Infrastructure LLC, which owns "in-construction midstream energy assets in the U.S."; and

• Investing US$212 million in Blackstone Credit's senior debt and equity issuance to fund its investment in U.S. pipeline assets from Pittsburgh-based EQT Corp, which is one of the largest producers and transporters of fossil gas in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.

Until mid-2024, CPPIB held a 49% stake in Aera Energy, California’s second largest oil and gas producer. Following Aera’s merger with California Resources Corporation (CRC), CPPIB now owns 11.2% of the combined entity – now California’s largest oil and gas producer. A CPPIB managing director from its “Sustainable Energies” group sits on CRC’s board.

Despite CRC’s claims that it’s “building a carbon management business”, the company’s own merger announcement emphasized California’s continued demand for oil “for decades” and highlighted plans to double oil production. Neither CRC, Aera, nor CPPIB have released a credible plan to align operations with net-zero goals, which require phasing out oil and gas production.

The merger itself sparked controversy. In 2024, Aera and CRC spent over US$1 million lobbying against climate laws in California, including efforts to weaken a law requiring oil companies to properly cap and clean up abandoned wells. CRC was allowed to acquire Aera while posting only a US$30 million bond, despite cleanup costs for Aera’s wells being estimated at US$1.1 billion. This raises serious concerns about CPPIB’s role in backing companies that obstruct climate policy and shift environmental and financial risks onto the public – particularly gas leaks from unplugged wells that continue to threaten local communities.  

After the merger, CPPIB described CRC as an "independent energy and carbon management company committed to the energy transition," claiming that it would play a leading role in California's shift away from fossil fuels. But in October 2024, CRC's CEO indicated plans to expand oil production – from one rig to eight – to counteract a 6% annual decline in output. He emphasized overcoming regulatory barriers and expressed confidence that oil demand would remain strong, casting doubt on any real transition.

A Harvard Business School study on CPPIB’s now-defunct net-zero strategy examined the Aera investment as part of a “grey-to-green” approach, where fossil assets are gradually decarbonized. The study highlighted a debate within CPPIB about whether Aera’s plans would ever translate into real emissions reductions or risk-adjusted returns. CPPIB staff acknowledged the high costs, unproven nature, and safety risks of CCS, along with the legal obligations to retire, plug and remediate oil wells. Despite these concerns, CPPIB backed both the initial Aera investment and the CRC merger.

Even when CPPIB invokes a climate transition narrative, its fossil fuel holdings continue expanding production and lobbying against government climate policies– directly contradicting the net-zero commitment it claimed to follow. CRC and its subsidiary Aera Energy have no credible, Paris-aligned climate plan, and CPPIB’s ongoing support enables fossil fuel expansion under the guise of decarbonization.

Encino Acquisition Partners (Encino Energy), one of North America’s top 25 fossil gas producers, is 98% owned by CPPIB and included in its “Sustainable Energies” portfolio. A CPPIB managing director sits on Encino’s board. On Earth Day 2024, CPPIB announced up to US$300 million in new investment to expand Encino’s fracking operations in Ohio. 

In May 2025, CPPIB announced the sale of its entire 98% stake in Encino Acquisition Partners. The transaction closed in August 2025.

CPPIB owned Encino since 2018, when it invested US$1 billion to acquire Chesapeake Energy’s Utica Shale oil and gas assets in Ohio through Encino. According to an October 2024 interview with Encino’s COO in Oil and Gas Investor, CPPIB "liked the look" of Ohio oil and "was key to the story" behind the company's expansion in the Utica Oil Play. CPPIB “envisioned creating a company that would be a leader in acquiring U.S. oil and gas assets.” Encino’s new owner, EOG Resources, bragged that its acquisition represents “more than two billion barrels of oil equivalent per day.”    

CPPIB investment key to Encino’s expansion of production

Since CPPIB’s acquisition, Encino has increased its producing wells from 700 to over 1,000 and tripled its oil production. Its CTO told the company’s board that he initially expected to extract more than a billion barrels – but now says it will be “several times that”. In 2024, KPMG profiled Encino as a client success story, praising its use of advanced analytics to optimize drilling, expand operations and fuel future acquisitions.

Encino’s oil and gas extraction has become so pervasive in Ohio that the company is causing earthquakes, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. In May 2025, state regulators ordered Encino to indefinitely halt fracking operations at a well pad in Ohio's Noble County following a recent string of earthquakes in the area.

Encino’s influence on government policy

Encino’s political influence is also notable. The company is a member of the American Exploration and Production Council (AXPC), and its CEO sits on AXPC’s Executive Committee. In November 2024, The Washington Post revealed AXPC’s aggressive efforts to re-elect President Trump and secure a full rollback of U.S. climate policy. 

Encino also funded a greenwashing group to advocate for oil and gas expansion in Ohio. In its "Essential Facts on Essential Ohio Energy" report, the Ohio Natural Energy Institute touts the state's record oil and gas production in 2023, celebrating a 35% increase from the previous year. The report notes that Encino produced nearly half of the state's oil in 2023. The Ohio Natural Energy Institute is funded by the state's oil and gas producers, including Encino, and claims to "educate people about the essential energy that makes life better, specifically focusing on natural gas and oil production." There is no mention of climate change, or the role of fossil fuels in global heating, on the institute's website.

Following significant industry lobbying, in February 2024 Ohio’s Oil & Gas Land Management Commission awarded Encino a contract to drill beneath the Valley Run Wildlife Area and state parks. Encino is also drilling under wildlife protection areas in a state that has officially labelled fossil gas as "green energy."  Encino plans to drill in Ohio's Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, including Leesville Lake – home to youth camps, fishing, marinas and wildlife. Ohio earth scientist Julie Weatherington-Rice said it is no surprise that Encino is targeting public lands: "Everything else that could be fracked has been fracked. "According to Encino’s COO, CPPIB is "very long-term focused".

Despite Encino’s efforts to influence government policy and expand oil and gas production, a CPPIB executive stated in 2024: “We don't make policy, we make returns." But CPPIB’s portfolio companies clearly do make policy – and are actively backing political agendas that undermine climate action.

Teine Energy is 90% owned by CPPIB following a $1.3 billion investment in 2011. A managing director of CPPIB’s “Sustainable Energies” group sits on Teine’s Board of Directors. 

Acquiring new oil and gas assets and expanding production

Teine Energy’s portfolio is focused in Saskatchewan and Alberta. In September 2022, Teine purchased 95,000 net acres of oil and gas producing land in Alberta from Repsol for a reported $400 million. The sale included Repsol's heavy oil and gas producing assets and supporting midstream infrastructure, including an 1,800-km pipeline network. 

In a November 2023 speech before the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, CPPIB CEO John Graham highlighted CPPIB’s support for Teine to acquire these assets from Repsol, highlighting how “in the first nine months of 2023 they drilled the third most wells in Canada, behind Cenovus and CNRL.” 

Lobbying to dismantle climate policy and prop up the oil industry

In March 2024, the CEO of Teine Energy signed an open letter from the Calgary Chamber of Commerce calling on the federal government to withdraw the proposed oil and gas emissions cap, a key federal climate policy.

In June 2024, Teine partnered with the Saskatchewan government to develop new high school "Oil and Gas" courses, combining 50 hours of "online theory" with 50 hours of work placement.

"As much as the federal government would like to think we're going to be moving away from oil and gas, it isn't going to be happening anytime soon," said Premier of Saskatchewan Scott Moe while announcing the Teine-funded program. He also falsely claimed that Teine's "environmentally responsible energy" is the "most sustainable product that you can find." The partnership drew significant criticism within Saskatchewan.

​​VoltaGrid is a Houston-based energy management and power generation company financed by CPPIB and listed as part of its so-called “Sustainable Energies” portfolio, despite VoltaGrid’s prominent role in the fossil fuel supply chain. A managing director in CPPIB’s “Sustainable Energies Group” sits on VoltaGrid’s board of directors.  

CPPIB partnered with institutional investors in February 2021 to commit $92.5 million and In March 2024 to provide up to $550 million in loans and $210 million in equity to VoltaGrid.

While VoltaGrid offers some products in renewable energy, microgrids, energy storage and load management, the company’s core business is fossil gas. One of VoltaGrid’s main products is a 2.5-MW fossil gas generator that produces “low carbon” on-site mobile power, particularly for oil and gas production. It runs five compressed natural gas (CNG) terminals, including the largest in the Permian Basin. 

In December 2024, VoltaGrid signed an agreement with Diamondback Energy and Halliburton to deploy four electric “simul-frac fleets” across the Permian Basin. The 200-MW project was marketed as “clean and efficient” but will increase fracked gas production. VoltaGrid plans to expand its CNG infrastructure to ensure a “reliable natural gas feedstock”. 

In February 2025, VoltaGrid announced plans to deploy over a gigawatt of gas-fired microgrid capacity at data centres across North America. It is set to become the main supplier of gas-fired power for Vantage Data Centers to support AI expansion. 

VoltaGrid calls its plans an "environmentally conscious approach” and claims its gas microgrids are "environmentally responsible", can use 100% hydrogen or renewable natural gas (RNG) “when viable”, and offers carbon offsets as “net zero” solutions.

This is textbook greenwashing. VoltaGrid's gas expansion will lock in fossil fuel use for decades. Gas is a potent fossil fuel that must be phased out to avoid catastrophic warming. There is no viable plan for RNG or hydrogen use at scale. CPPIB is backing a company expanding and prolonging the use of gas instead of investing in renewables.

Meanwhile, VoltaGrid’s CEO praises Trump’s “drill, baby drill” agenda, donates to Republicans, courts major U.S. fossil fuel and tech firms, and aggressively grows gas power for data centres.

In July 2017, CPPIB bought Shell’s 45% stake in the Corrib gas field off Ireland’s coast for €830 million. It later transferred 1.5% to Vermilion, the field’s operator, retaining a 43.5% stake via its wholly owned subsidiary, Nephin Energy. Nephin Energy is part of CPPIB’s so-called “Sustainable Energies” portfolio. Two senior CPPIB staff sit on its board. 

In October 2024, the Irish Independent reported that Nephin posted a €17.14 million post-tax loss in 2023, due to falling gas prices and a €46.49-million tax bill from the EU’s windfall energy gains tax – introduced in 2022 in response to the Ukraine war. All of Nephin's 2023 revenue came from fossil gas, with the Corrib field supplying about 40% of Ireland's gas. Vermilion, Nephin's partner, is challenging the windfall tax in court.

Corrib is expected to be depleted by 2029. Despite being a gas producer, Nephin is rebranding as a “renewable energy company.” In November 2024, its subsidiary Nephin Renewable Gassigned a memorandum with Gas Networks Ireland to inject biomethane plants into the national gas grid.  

Nephin’s CEO called grid-injected biomethane “the fastest and most efficient way to decarbonise” Ireland’s gas network. Gas Networks Ireland claimed that replacing fossil gas with biomethane and hydrogen could deliver a “net-zero carbon gas network by 2050."

This is greenwashing. Nephin is not a renewable energy company. Biomethane – also called renewable natural gas, or RNG, is still composed mainly of methane. When burned, it emits greenhouse gases. There is no such thing as "net-zero carbon gas", and biomethane cannot decarbonise a gas system.  At best, biomethane is a short-term stopgap – but it prolongs gas infrastructure, delays electrification, and does nothing to prevent end-use emissions. 

That CPPIB allows this level of greenwashing raises serious concerns about the pension fund’s grasp of the climate crisis and the nature of the energy transition. Pension capital could support the early retirement of fossil fuel assets. But it remains to be seen whether CPPIB can lead a credible, science-based transition of Nephin – while still delivering strong returns for Canadians.

In August 2024, CPPIB announced a $1.2 billion investment in Denver-based Tallgrass Energy, which operates over 16,000 km of oil and gas pipelines across 14 U.S. states. The deal was brokered by CPPIB’s so-called “Sustainable Energies” group. A managing director in CPPIB’s Sustainable Energies group sits on the board of Tallgrass.  

CPPIB describes Tallgrass as an “energy infrastructure company”, obscuring the fact that its core business is transporting oil and gas. CPPIB called the deal an “attractive investment opportunity” due to Tallgrass’ “dual role in delivering against growing energy needs and increasing decarbonization opportunities”. A CPPIB spokesperson said: “The core thesis of our investment in Tallgrass Energy is to create a platform company that enables us to decarbonise greenhouse gas producing assets. These types of platforms are essential to ensure a transition to a net zero economy.” No explanation was given as to how a pipeline operator can drive decarbonization or why such a platform is essential to the energy transition.

In May 2025, Tallgrass Energy announced it’s planning to build a new pipeline that would lock in the use of Texan fossil gas for decades to come, with a targeted in-service date of late 2028. The pipeline is proposed to transport up to 2.4 billion cubic feet of gas from multiple points in Texas' Permian Basin to Tallgrass' Rockies Express Pipeline and onward to major U.S. markets. A gas analyst from S&P Global said that the proposed pipeline would enable Tallgrass to transport growing Permian gas production and give Tallgrass access to markets in the western U.S. to compete with Canadian gas. 

CPPIB’s investment further entrenches Canada’s national retirement fund in the ongoing expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure – a high-risk bet that the world will remain dependent on oil and gas and fail to limit warming to 1.5℃. Tallgrass has no net-zero target and no plan to align its pipeline operations with global climate goals.  

In 2024, Tallgrass acquired a 75% stake in Escalante H2 Power (eH2P), a New Mexico company that claims to “upcycle obsolete coal fired power plants into zero-emission hydrogen fired power generation plants.” In 2021, eH2P signed a statement of intent to purchase the decommissioned Escalante coal plant in Prewitt, NM, to convert it into a “zero-emission” hydrogen facility. The pipeline is part of a much larger project proposal that would allegedly create a hydrogen economy centred in New Mexico, including hydrogen production, carbon storage, repurposing a mothballed coal-fired power plant as a hydrogen-fired power plant, and pipelines connecting the various parts. In 2025, Tallgrass suddenly decided to change what would be transported in the pipeline from hydrogen to fossil gas. The news surprised and angered many, including the Navajo Nation, who say the change to the proposed pipeline from hydrogen to fossil gas should require the entire consultation and regulatory process to be restarted. "People freaked out," said Jessica Keetso (Diné), an outreach coordinator for the Native American group Tó Nizhóní Ání, or Sacred Water Speaks. 

In 2018, CPPIB invested €900 million for a 12% stake in Nedgia, Spain's largest fossil gas distribution company. A CPPIB managing director currently sits on Nedgia’s board.

In February 2024, Nedgia announced plans to begin integrating small volumes of renewable natural gas (or RNG), also known as biomethane, into its network. RNG is primarily composed of methane and contributes to global heating.

In May 2024, Nedgia announced that it launched its first reverse flow station near Barcelona, which will allow it to inject up to 70 GWh of RNG annually – captured from a local landfill – into Spain’s gas grid. That’s roughly enough to supply 14,000 households per year, a negligible amount compared to the amount of fossil gas transported through Nedgia’s distribution network. 

While RNG projects may help marginally reduce emissions from sectors like agriculture or landfill waste, they are not a viable pathway to decarbonizing heating or energy systems. Burning RNG still emits greenhouse gases, and its use delays the retirement of fossil gas infrastructure and diverts attention from scalable, zero-carbon alternatives like renewable energy and electrification.

Through a US$1.3 billion investment in 2019, CPPIB took a 35% stake in Oklahoma-based company Williams Ohio Valley Midstream JV, which includes the Utica East Ohio and Ohio Valley Midstream systems. 

The Utica East Ohio system transports, processes and stores fracked gas and gas liquids like propane and ethane in Ohio. The Ohio Valley Midstream system moves ethane across state lines between West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Both systems are directly tied to fracking operations in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania – a region known as the Appalachian Basin, one of the most active and emissions-intensive gas-producing zones in North America.

In 2022, CPPIB committed US$100 million to Kimmeridge Fund VI – a US-based private equity firm focused on unconventional oil and gas. That funding helped Kimmeridge acquire fracked gas assets in Texas and support the proposed Commonwealth LNG export terminal in Louisiana.  

In February 2025, the Trump administration granted conditional approval for the facility, which would export 9.5 million tons of LNG annually from Louisiana's Gulf Coast. This effectively revived a project paused by the Biden administration in January 2024, which delayed LNG export approvals due to concerns about LNG's impacts on the climate, domestic energy prices and Gulf Coast communities. A statement from the Biden White House said the pause reflected that the climate crisis is “the existential threat of our time."

But the Trump administration, which denies or downplays climate risks and pledges to "drill, baby, drill", reversed that decision. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said he was “unpausing the pause,” arguing that exporting LNG “strengthens the U.S. economy and supports American jobs while bolstering energy security,” crediting President Trump for clearing the way. 

This means Canadian pension money is helping finance a fossil fuel export project now being pushed forward by a government explicitly hostile to climate science. Canada Pension Plan dollars are intertwined with U.S. political forces determined to expand fossil fuel infrastructure – and to reverse climate-centred policymaking.

In early 2024, CPPIB committed US$500 million to Quantum Capital Solutions Fund II, a private equity fund investing in U.S. oil and gas. 

In October 2024, private equity firm Quantum Capital Group announced it had raised US$10 billion for its "energy platform", including US$2.8 billion for Fund II. Its CEO told Bloomberg: "we are a very large driller" and "the vast majority of our capital does go to oil and gas."

Quantum’s CEO lamented: “It has been the toughest fundraise we’ve been through in our 26-year career”, blaming growing resistance to fossil fuels from investors in Europe and U.S. coastal states. CPPIB appears to be among the few pension investors still backing fossil fuel expansion. Its investment in Quantum comes despite no credible decarbonization plan – and a clear warning that the fossil fuel sector is becoming riskier and less viable.  

In late 2024, CPPIB also made three co-investments alongside Quantum: 

• US$150 million for an approximate 29% stake in Trace Midstream, a Houston-based company transporting fossil gas in the Permian Basin; 

• US$80 million for an approximate 11% stake in QB Energy, a fossil gas exploration firm in Denver; and 

• US$65 million for an approximate 10% stake in Firebird II, a Texas-based oil producer.

In a December 2024 interview with Bloomberg, Quantum CEO Will VanLoh said its getting harder to “drill, baby, drill” as many U.S. oil basins are declining. Only the Permian, he claimed, offers further potential. VanLoh praised Trump’s plans to revive LNG expansion and called for regulatory rollbacks to boost gas-fired electricity for AI and data centres. In February 2025, he gave a keynote urging American "energy dominance" and more oil and gas production.

According to the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, 96% of Quantum’s energy portfolio was in fossil fuels as of January 2024 – up from 94% the year before. Based on this track record, CPPIB’s US$500 million is likely supporting private oil and gas producers that are worsening the climate crisis and putting pensioners’ long-term security at risk.

In 2016, CPPIB invested US$720 million in Blackstone Capital Partners Fund VII, a private equity fund launched by “alternative asset manager” Blackstone. 

A year later, in 2017, Blackstone partnered with ArcLight Capital Partners to form a joint venture called Lightstone Generation, which acquired the Gavin Coal Plant (Gavin), a 50-year-old 2,600-MW coal-fired power plant in Cheshire, Ohio. 

Rather than winding the plant down, Lightstone kept Gavin operating, despite it being one of the highest-carbon-emitting power plants in the U.S. The lethal plant burns roughly 7 million tonnes of coal annually and emits more CO2 than many small countries.

The Institute for Energy Economic and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) has warned that refinancing Gavin’s debt introduces significant stranded asset risk for its owners and reputational risk for the pension funds backing the investment – like CPPIB. IEEFA argued that the more responsible path would be to develop and release a credible plan to retire the plant early, while investing in community transition planning for affected workers and regions. 

Yet, as of 2025, the coal plant remains fully operational. CPPIB’s financing – buried within a private equity structure – has helped keep the plant operating and polluting. Canadians have no visibility into the fact that US$720 million of their pension money has been used to extend the life of a massive U.S. coal plant – despite coal being the single largest source of global carbon emissions and entirely incompatible with 1.5°C climate goals.