CPPIB-backed VoltaGrid praises Trump’s "drill, baby drill" agenda
CPPIB-backed VoltaGrid calls President Trump’s fossil fuel agenda “literally the intersection of our entire existence” , says it “just wants to build shit in America.”
Against the backdrop of a worsening climate crisis, President Trump is promising to massively expand fossil fuels and launch a devastating trade war on Canadian companies, all while threatening to annex Canada.
But apparently the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) doesn’t see this as a problem. As Canada’s survival depends on confronting the climate crisis and diversifying trade away from the U.S., the CEO of CPPIB-backed fossil fuel company VoltaGrid is praising Trump’s “drill, baby drill” agenda, donating money to the Republican Party, courting the U.S.’s biggest fossil fuel producers and tech giants, and aggressively expanding gas-fired power to run data centres.
Photo: The Wall Street Journal’s coverage of CPPIB-backed VoltaGrid.
As Canadians put their “elbows up” and scramble to confront the existential crises of an accelerating climate emergency and a hostile southern neighbour, CPPIB seems determined to make both crises even worse – investing hundreds of millions of dollars in an American company that’s gone all in on fossil fuels and Trump’s destructive agenda.
It begs the question that Shift finds itself asking far too often: “Why is CPPIB betting our retirement savings on climate failure while undermining its own climate commitments?
CPPIB’s financial backing of VoltaGrid
VoltaGrid is a Houston-based energy management and power generation company financed by CPPIB and listed as part of its dubiously-named “Sustainable Energies” portfolio. A managing director in CPPIB’s “Sustainable Energies Group” sits on VoltaGrid’s board of directors.
CPPIB first partnered with other institutional investors in February 2021 to commit $92.5 million to VoltaGrid. In March 2024, CPPIB again partnered with other investors to provide up to $550 million in loans and $210 million in equity to VoltaGrid.
CPPIB-backed VoltaGrid wants to “drill, baby drill”
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that VoltaGrid’s CEO, New Brunswick native Nathan Ough, “plays matchmaker between Big Tech and Big Oil.” Ough “is the rare Canadian to voice support for Trump,” referring to the president’s embrace of fossil fuels and cutting red tape for data centre development as a boon for VoltaGrid. According to the WSJ, the VoltaGrid CEO “cultivates relationships with Trump allies and makes frequent appearances on conservative media channels—some which have compared him with Elon Musk.”
- Nathan Ough, CEO of CPPIB-backed VoltaGrid
The WSJ reports that when Ough lobbies lawmakers in Washington, D.C., he hands out lapel pins that read “DATA CENTERS LOVE LOW CARBON FOSSIL FUELS.” In March, Ough hosted executives from ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and Halliburton, senior staff and engineers from data centre developers, and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Wheatley at his Houston home. Ough also flies tech executives to West Texas oil fields to visit VoltaGrid sites. The company will spend more than US$1 billion over the next 12 to 16 months building fossil gas power plants for data centres and other customers. As part of his appreciation for the Trump administration’s support for fossil fuels, Ough recently donated nearly US$110,000 to the Republican National Committee and plans to travel to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in the coming weeks. He wants the Trump administration, which has pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, to “let his company build a (gas-fired) electricity empire in the U.S.”
Do CPPIB executives support VoltaGrid’s fossil-fuelled data centre agenda?
While some data centre developers and their political backers celebrate VoltaGrid’s fossil-fuelled mission to power data centre expansion, other tech giants have made ambitious climate pledges and plan to power their expanding operations with clean energy. They might be reluctant to go into business with a company like VoltaGrid that’s relying on fossil fuels.
VoltaGrid’s data centre plans would massively expand the use of fossil gas, increasing greenhouse gas emissions and locking in carbon pollution for decades to come. VoltaGrid’s business model is incompatible with Canada’s and the world’s commitment to limit global heating to safe levels, and directly undermine CPPIB’s net-zero commitment and the retirement security of Canadians.
Yet CPPIB has made alarming public statement that suggest it supports VoltaGrid’s destructive, Trump-boosting, fossil-fuelled agenda. In October, a CPPIB executive falsely called fossil gas a “cleaner form of energy” and a “transition fuel.” At CPPIB’s national virtual meeting in November, CPPIB CEO John Graham said our national pension manager is “pretty keen on data centers”, noting that “the energy demand is incredible for these data centres” and that CPPIB has a team of infrastructure, real estate and energy analysts dedicated to financing data centres.
VoltaGrid is going all-in on fossil gas
While VoltaGrid provides power solutions for remote mining, utilities, distributed power generation, energy storage and electric grids, the company’s operators appear to be focused on the gas industry. One of VoltaGrid’s key products is a 2.5-megawatt (MW) fossil gas generator that produces on-site mobile electricity, particularly for oil and gas production. The company also operates five major compressed natural gas (CNG) terminals across the U.S., including the largest CNG terminal in the Permian Basin. And VoltaGrid falsely claims that its “net zero carbon offsets” can somehow help companies “achieve carbon neutrality today” – without actually cutting emissions from their own operations.
In February, VoltaGrid announced that it’s planning to deploy more than a gigawatt of new gas-fired microgrid power generation capacity at new data centres across North America. VoltaGrid is set to become the main supplier of gas-fired power for Vantage Data Centers to accelerate its roll-out of AI training facilities. In August 2024, VoltaGrid agreed to supply the Elon Musk-owned xAI Memphis data center with 14 mobile generators, each of which is capable of providing 2.5 MW, giving it an additional 35 MW of power capacity. The non-profit environmental advocacy group Southern Environmental Law Center said the AI facility would siphon 5% of Memphis’ electric utility’s daily load to power its operations, potentially leaving residents without power during peak demand periods of increasingly severe hot and cold weather.
VoltaGrid falsely claims that its plans provide an "environmentally conscious approach to powering critical digital infrastructure." It also says the gas-powered microgrids are "environmentally responsible" and "can take advantage of 100% hydrogen-based or renewable natural gas (RNG) fuel sources when viable and offers carbon offsets for advanced net zero solutions."
This is greenwashing. VoltaGrid's push to power the data centres with gas will lock in the use of fossil fuels for decades to come. Gas is a highly potent fossil fuel that must be rapidly phased out to avoid catastrophic global heating outcomes. There is no plan or credible pathway for VoltaGrid's gas-fired microgrids to use RNG or hydrogen. This is a cut-and-dry example of CPPIB allocating capital to companies expanding and prolonging the use of gas instead of choosing clean, affordable energy to power data centre expansion.
Meanwhile, in December 2024, VoltaGrid entered into an agreement with Diamondback Energy and Halliburton Energy Services to deploy four “advanced electric simul-frac fleets” across the Permian Basin, calling it a “significant investment in clean and efficient energy solutions” that will deliver 200 MW of electric power to support Diamondback’s exploration and production operations. Under the agreement, VoltaGrid will deploy its simul-frac generators and expand its CNG infrastructure at Diamondback’s micro-grid facility to ensure a “reliable natural gas feedstock”. The companies claim the agreement will achieve superior performance while reducing environmental impact, but this is more greenwashing. The reality is that the agreement is designed to support increased fracked gas production.
How does CPPIB’s investment in VoltaGrid serve the best interest of Canadians?
Amidst the existential risks Canadians face from both the climate crisis and the Trump administration, the actions of CPPIB-backed VoltaGrid are difficult to comprehend. Using Canadians’ retirement savings, CPPIB is financing a company that’s expanding fossil gas, locking in carbon pollution for decades to come, and politically supporting a president that’s threatening Canada’s sovereignty.
CPPIB’s ongoing backing of VoltaGrid makes a mockery of its own net-zero commitment, and it also directly undermines the urgent need for Canada to stand up to a hostile American president. CPPIB has some serious questions to answer about its role in investing in the best interests of Canadians and protecting our retirement security in a safe climate future.