Statement: CPPIB bets another $1.4 billion on fossil fuel power plants
For Immediate Release: October 2, 2025
Toronto, ON | Traditional territories of the Wendat, Anishnaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Chippewas, and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation
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.
While CPPIB claims that it will invest in a “whole of economy transition”, the pension manager continues to do the opposite, making fossil fuel investments without credible climate transition plans or any stated intention to develop and implement them. In reality, such investments are bets against a safe climate and secure retirement for Canadians. Investments like today’s in AlphaGen require continued dependence on fossil fuels to generate value.
With CPPIB acknowledging last week that climate-driven physical risks are happening sooner than assumed and causing greater damage than anticipated, it is imprudent to invest in the growth of fossil fuels causing the climate crisis. New oil and gas investments are particularly harmful for younger Canada Pension Plan members, who won’t collect their retirement benefits until well after 2050, when the full climate impacts of CPPIB’s investment decisions are expected to harm their finances and their physical well-being.
Shift supports Canadian pension funds investing in high-carbon electric utilities, as long as they have credible climate transition plans to responsibly phase out fossil energy generation and build out renewables, electricity infrastructure and energy storage in line with global climate commitments. That’s not what’s happening here.
According to its website, AlphaGen has no net-zero commitment, no renewable energy or non-fossil assets, and no climate transition plan. CPPIB did not explain how AlphaGen could align with a net-zero future, nor how AlphaGen could retain long-term value through the accelerating global transition to clean energy.
CPPIB’s partner in the AlphaGen investment, private equity firm ArcLight Capital Partners, owns 17 fossil fuel companies– representing 81% of its energy portfolio. Financial think tank Private Equity Climate Risks (PECR) assigned ArcLight a D grade in its 2024 analysis of 21 private equity firms, finding that ArcLight is responsible for an estimated 55 million tonnes of climate pollution annually from its coal-fired power plants and upstream oil and gas companies. PECR estimates that ArcLight’s fossil fuel holdings are responsible for between US$2.5 billion and US$3.7 billion in health-related costs in the U.S. each year, including 100,000 asthma incidents, 250 emergency room visits, 8,800 lost work days, 46,000 lost school days, and 243 deaths.
With its claims around managing physical climate risks, CPPIB should be well-informed about the worsening environmental, health, climate and economic impacts of fossil fuels. That’s why it’s so bewildering that CPPIB would continue gambling Canadians’ retirement savings on oil and gas assets that are damaging our collective future.
Background information:
Shift. CPPIB Watch: A Quarterly Update on CPPIB-owned Fossil Fuel Companies (July-September 2025).
Shift. Shift warns Canada's Chief Actuary is severely underestimating climate risks to public pension plans. (August, 28, 2025)
Shift’s detailed analysis of CPPIB’s approach to climate risk and investments in fossil fuels (as of December 31, 2024).
Shift. CPPIB’s fundamentally flawed decarbonization thesis for fossil fuels. (February 2025).
Ortec Finance. Climate change could erode Canadian pension fund returns by 44%. (January 2025).
University of Exeter and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries: Planetary Solvency finding our balance with nature - Global risk management for human prosperity. (January 2025)
Contact information for interview requests:
Adam Scott, Executive Director, Shift: Action for Pension Wealth & Planet Health: adamscott@shiftaction.ca, 416-347-3858
Patrick DeRochie, Senior Manager, Shift: Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health: patrick@shiftaction.ca, 416-576-2701
Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health is a charitable initiative that works to protect pensions and the climate by bringing together beneficiaries and their pension funds to engage on the climate crisis.
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