Statement: Facing climate litigation, CPPIB made at least $7.1 billion in new fossil fuel investments in the last year
Toronto, ON | Traditional territories of the Wendat, Anishnaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Chippewas, and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation
Facing landmark climate litigation, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments, or CPPIB) has committed at least $7.1 billion to new oil, gas, coal and pipeline assets in the last year.
CPPIB’s quarterly financial report, announced today, show Canada’s national pension manager committing an estimated additional $6 billion* to fossil fuels in its second quarter of fiscal 2026, plus October. These investments are itemized below. Every dollar CPPIB invests in fossil fuels is a long-term bet against a Paris-aligned energy transition – worsening the climate crisis and putting Canadians’ retirement security at greater risk.
These high-risk investments do not have Paris-aligned climate transition pathways and ignore the increasingly dire warnings that fossil fuels must be rapidly phased out to avoid catastrophic global heating. With these investments, CPPIB is betting long-term on the expanded and prolonged use of fossil fuels, which will make the impacts of climate change even worse and could expose the Canada Pension Plan to undue risk of loss.
“You don’t call climate change an ‘existential threat’ and the ‘single biggest investment risk that we face’, and then spend the next year pouring $7 billion from the Canada Pension Plan into investments which make this crisis worse,” says Patrick DeRochie, Senior Manager at Shift. “That’s reckless and absurd, and it underscores exactly why CPPIB is now facing climate litigation from its contributors.”
CPPIB’s $7.1 billion investments in new fossil fuel investments since October 2024 were made the same year that the pension manager abandoned its net-zero commitment. Last month, four young Canadians announced they are taking CPPIB to court, claiming CPPIB is breaching its duty to invest in their best interests by failing to protect their pensions from climate risk while investing billions of dollars in oil, gas, coal and pipelines.
Such investments will either become stranded assets in a decarbonizing world, or they’ll prolong and expand the use of fossil fuels in ways that accelerate the climate crisis. Either outcome threatens the financial sustainability of the Canada Pension Plan and undermines the retirement security of Canadians.
Background: Shift’s estimate of CPPIB’s new investments in fossil fuels since October 2024
As reported in CPPIB’s Second Quarter Fiscal 2025 results, announced today:
$4.1 billion for a 13% stake in Sempra Infrastructure in September, a company that develops, owns and operates fossil gas pipelines, power generation and fossil gas export facilities in the U.S. and Mexico.
$1.4 billion for a minority stake in AlphaGen in October, which owns and operates 23 power plants that burn fossil gas, oil, diesel and kerosene across six U.S. states.
$122 million in Caturus, “a U.S.-based integrated gas-focused exploration & production and liquefied natural gas (LNG) company, through a Kimmeridge co-investment vehicle.” CPPIB reports that it currently owns a 12% stake in Caturus. This new investment is likely related to Kimmeridge’s ongoing plans and partnerships to develop fracked gas assets in Texas and build the controversial Commonwealth LNG export terminal on the U.S. Gulf Coast, following CPPIB’s US$100 million commitment to private equity fund Kimmeridge Fund VI in 2022.
A $421 million** commitment to ArcLight Capital Infrastructure Partners VIII, which CPPIB says “will focus on firm power, renewable energy and midstream assets, primarily in North America.” According to the Private Equity Climate Risks project, ArcLight Capital Partners owns 17 fossil fuel companies, representing 81% of the private equity firm’s energy portfolio.
Before today’s Second Quarter Fiscal 2025 results, new fossil fuel investments made by CPPIB in the last year include:
Between October 1 and December 31, 2024, CPPIB invested nearly $1.2 billion in fossil fuel expansion in the U.S. According to CPPIB’s Third Quarter Fiscal 2025 results, released in February 2025, this includes:
Committing $429 million to Boston-based Salamanca Infrastructure LLC, which owns "in-construction midstream energy assets in the U.S."
Investing $303 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.
Completing three co-investments alongside Quantum Capital Group, a Houston-based private equity firm focused on the energy sector, including:
$215 million for an approximate 29% stake in Trace Midstream, a Houston-based company with fossil gas gathering and transportation assets in the Permian Basin;
$114 million for an approximate 11% stake in QB Energy, a private fossil gas exploration and production business based in Denver; and
$93 million for an approximate 10% stake in Texas-based Firebird II, a private oil and gas exploration and production business focused on acquiring and developing upstream assets in the Permian Basin.
A transaction for CPPIB to acquire a 40% stake in Allete for $8.47 billion*** has cleared state and federal regulatory hurdles and is expected to close before the end of 2025. Allete is a major U.S. utility conglomerate whose assets include a lignite coal mine, coal- and gas-fired power plants, and gas pipelines.
Meanwhile, companies already privately owned by CPPIB are investing to expand and prolong the use of fossil fuels, while lobbying to dismantle climate policies. In September, California’s largest oil and gas producer – which is partly owned by CPPIB – announced plans to acquire another 20,000 barrels of oil and gas production and 120,000 acres of oil and gas producing land. In October, an offshore gas producer owned by CPPIB was named by the European Commission as one of Europe’s largest polluters and ordered to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by one million tonnes annually. CPPIB-backed VoltaGrid is planning to power data centres with fossil gas in Texas, New Brunswick, the Middle East and elsewhere. And oil and gas producer Teine Energy, 90% owned by CPPIB, signed a letter from the fossil fuel industry calling on Canada’s federal government to dismantle climate policies and regulations, including repealing the Impact Assessment Act and West Coast tanker ban, eliminating the oil and gas emissions cap, and ending industrial carbon pricing. Earlier this fall, CPPIB CEO John Graham told the Financial Post that “(CPPIB) like(s) oil and gas pipelines.”
*This figure is an estimate that includes $341 million of CPPIB’s $421 million commitment to ArcLight, based on fossil fuel companies composing 81% of the private equity firm’s energy portfolio.
**Shift has included only $341 million of CPPIB’s $421 million commitment to ArcLight in its estimate of CPPIB’s investments in fossil fuels, based on fossil fuel companies composing 81% of the the private equity firm’s energy portfolio
***This figure is not included in Shift’s estimate of CPPIB’s new fossil fuel investments in the last year because the deal has not closed and it is not possible to determine the value of Allete’s fossil fuel assets as a proportion of the company.
For interview requests:
Patrick DeRochie, Senior Manager | Shift Action for Pension Wealth & 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. Shift is a project of MakeWay Canada.