Four young people in Canada are taking the sixth largest pension fund manager in the world to court, claiming it is breaching its duty to invest in their best interests by failing to protect their pensions from climate risk. Represented by lawyers from Ecojustice and Goldblatt Partners LLP, Aliya Hirji, Travis Olson, Rav Singh, and Chloe Tse, allege that the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is breaching its legal duties by subjecting pension contributions to undue risk of loss from poorly managed climate risk.  

On September 16, BCI published its 2024-2025 Stewardship Report, reaffirming its commitment to climate stewardship at a time when some institutional investors are scaling back ESG priorities amid political and market headwinds. Unlike peers that have softened their climate positions, BCI has remained vocal about the financial materiality of climate risk and the importance of robust policy frameworks to support the global transition. Despite its ongoing engagement and stewardship efforts, BCI’s approach is insufficient to drive change at the pace required by the climate crisis.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) today announced a new $1.4 billion investment to take a minority stake in a major American fossil fuel power plant operator– yet another gamble on climate failure that imperils the Canada Pension Plan and its members. The investment in AlphaGen, which owns and operates 23 power plants that burn fossil gas, oil, diesel and kerosene across six states, means CPPIB has now gambled $5.5 billion on risky new fossil fuel investments within the last two weeks– following its $4.1 billion investment in Sempra Infrastructure on September 23. 

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) today announced a new $4.1 billion investment in fossil gas, barely a day after its chief sustainability officer admitted in The Globe and Mail that investors are struggling to manage worsening climate-related financial risks, with physical risks "happening earlier than expected, with greater impact than was anticipated.”

In this Climate Pension Quarterly, we examine growing political pressure on pension funds to back fossil fuel expansion, highlight new legal and scientific developments raising the financial stakes, track recent moves by Canadian pension funds in and out of oil and gas, and spotlight our ongoing scrutiny of CPPIB’s fossil fuel investments and influence.

Amidst another summer of heatwaves, droughts and wildfires forcing Canadians to flee their homes, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) continues to own and invest in companies that are prolonging the use of fossil fuels and making the climate crisis worse. In some cases, CPPIB is directly financing the expansion of oil and gas infrastructure, causing more carbon pollution to be pumped into the atmosphere and betting the world will fail to limit global warming to safe levels.

In an op-ed published in The Hill Times, Shift’s Campaign Specialist Cheryl Randall and Senior Manager Laura McGrath write that as the federal cabinet prepares to soon appoint new Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) directors, it must prioritize candidates with proven climate expertise and no fossil fuel ties to restore credibility and protect the long-term security of Canadians’ pensions.

Shift, represented by environmental law charity Ecojustice, has written to Canada's Office of the Chief Actuary (OCA) warning that the OCA is severely underestimating the systemic financial risks of climate change in its valuation assessments. Shift and Ecojustice are concerned that the OCA is failing to assess the cascading economic and financial impacts of a rapidly warming world. This could have potentially severe consequences for the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and the Public Sector Pension Plan (PSPP), which collectively have more than $1 trillion in retirement savings under management on behalf of millions of Canadians.

Amidst another summer of heatwaves, droughts and wildfires forcing Canadians to flee their homes, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) made a bizarre decision to profile its investment in an oil and gas company whose business model is fundamentally incompatible with the long-term retirement security of Canadians. 

The Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which is already being utilized by many of Canada’s largest pension funds, has clearly spelled out that net-zero alignment requires pension funds to end project financing for any fossil fuel expansion immediately, and cut off financing of any company involved in fossil fuel expansion by 2030 at the latest. Will Canadian pension funds apply the new SBTi Financial Institute Net-Zero Standard to themselves?

BC is experiencing the devastating impacts of climate change in real time, including unprecedented wildfires, devastating heat domes, and flooding that has caused billions in damages. Climate impacts are not some distant threat for BC, but a current reality. Yet BCI continues to lag behind other Canadian and international pension funds on its approach to the climate crisis. Read Shift’s climate and energy analysis of BCI’s 2024-2025 Annual Report.

At Brookfield’s AGM in June, nearly all of Canada’s largest pension funds voted against Shift’s shareholder proposal asking the company to disclose specific criteria for inclusion of assets within its transition-labeled funds. Only Ontario’s University Pension Plan (UPP) voted for our proposal.

In the spring, the Municipal Pension Retirees Association (MPRA) made it clear they want their public pension fund invested in a way that protects both their retirement savings and the planet. The MPRA passed a resolution calling for the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) to discontinue support of fossil fuel corporations and other contributors to climate change. The resolution also stated that the MPRA will continue to expect comprehensive disclosures from BCI with respect to its investment portfolio.

Today, Shift released a new report, Entrenched Interests: Fossil Fuel Ties on Canada’s Pension Boards. The report reveals entanglements between Canadian pension fund boards and the fossil fuel industry which create potential conflicts of interest that can undermine pension funds’ ability to manage climate-related financial risks that threaten the retirement savings of millions of Canadians.

Today’s release of CDPQ’s 2025-2030 Climate Strategy and Transition Financing Framework reveals a credible, comprehensive plan to protect Quebec pensions by achieving net-zero by 2050 and investing in a safe climate future. It affirms that CDPQ’s leadership understands that climate-safe investing is imperative for achieving the fund’s core mandate. The strategy further positions CDPQ as a global climate leader while exposing yawning shortcomings in the climate strategies of other Canadian pension managers, particularly CPPIB.

In this Climate Pension Quarterly, we cover both the good and the bad climate and energy updates in the annual reports from six pension funds, recap recent investment transactions in fossil fuels and renewable energy, bring you news from pension fund portfolio companies, and provide an overview of climate-related votes at recent annual general meetings at Canadian banks.

Last month, Ontario’s University Pension Plan (UPP) released its annual report. UPP members should be re-assured that their pension manager demonstrated a continuing commitment to investing in a safe climate future.UPP continues to share the top spot on Shift’s annual Canadian Pension Climate Report Card for good reason. UPP is perfectly positioned to continue to lead by example: now’s the time for your pension manager to announce that it will be the first of Canada’s large pension funds to end all investments in oil, gas and pipelines.

On May 21, the news broke that the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) had quietly abandoned its commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050. But CPPIB’s abandonment of its net-zero commitment should perhaps come as no surprise– because it was never credible anyway. For years, Shift has meticulously documented how the actions and investment decisions of CPPIB and its privately-owned fossil fuel companies are expanding and prolonging the use of oil and gas. In retrospect, the writing was on the wall.

Canada’s largest pension managers describe their “stewardship” and “engagement” processes as critical elements of their climate plans. However, Shift’s analysis of recent shareholder votes reveals that some pension funds are more willing than others to push publicly traded companies to take meaningful steps to manage climate-related risks and opportunities.

Last week, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) quietly abandoned its 2022 commitment to invest the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) in line with achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. The unacceptable abdication of responsibility by CPPIB stands in stark contrast to other Canadian pension giants, six of which released annual reports this year that unambiguously confirmed that they remain committed to net-zero by 2050. Many of CPPIB’s largest pension peers in other countries also remain committed to net-zero.