NEW REPORT: Ongoing Fossil Fuel Ties on Pension Boards Raise Conflict of Interest Concerns
New report reveals ongoing fossil fuel presence on Canadian pension boards, warns about serious consequences from potential conflicts of interest
Toronto, ON | Traditional territories of the Huron-Wendat, Anishnaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Chippewas and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation
Cross-appointments between Canadian pension fund boards and the fossil fuel industry have persisted with only minimal improvement over the last three years. These entanglements 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.
Shift’s new report, titled Entrenched Interests: Fossil Fuel Ties on Canada’s Pension Boards, is a follow-up to our May 2022 publication Canada’s Climate-Conflicted Pension Managers: The Oil And Gas Insiders Overseeing Canadians’ Retirement Savings.
As of June 1, 2025, the boards of five of Canada’s largest public sector pension funds were entangled with the fossil fuel sector: the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), Public Service Pension Investment Board (PSP), Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), and Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS).
CPPIB and AIMCo had the highest concentration of fossil fuel-entangled directors on their boards, at 30% and 33%, respectively. Two of ten current OTPP directors simultaneously sit on the boards of five different fossil fuel companies.
“I was disappointed to learn that three out of the 10 directors of the Canada Pension Plan have ties to fossil fuel companies,” said Canada Pension Plan contributor Marcus Taylor, a professor in the Department of Global Development Studies at Queen’s University and a contributing author to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “I can’t help but wonder if these fossil fuel interests influenced CPPIB’s decision to abandon net-zero by 2050 and continue investing billions in oil and gas expansion.”
Shift has identified nine current directors of major Canadian pension funds with formal fossil fuel ties. These individuals also serve as directors or executives of 12 different fossil fuel companies or investment firms that focus on fossil fuels. The list includes companies that are expanding high-risk fossil fuel infrastructure, actively lobbying against credible government climate policy, and facing regulatory penalties for environmental harm.
Pension fund directors have a legal responsibility to act in the long-term best interests of pension contributors and beneficiaries. Managing climate-related financial risks calls for the phase-out of fossil fuels—the International Energy Agency and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have both issued stark warnings that continued fossil fuel investment is incompatible with global climate goals.
But when fossil fuel company directors and executives are appointed to pension fund boards, they may bring the industry’s interest in expanding production—and their own legal obligation to maximize value for fossil fuel corporate shareholders—into pension fund boardrooms. These competing interests create substantial potential for real or perceived conflicts.
“It’s deeply concerning that pension directors overseeing the retirement savings of 343,000 Ontario teachers have a financial interest in companies pushing to build new pipelines and LNG terminals, expand the production of fracked gas, and dismantle key climate policies,” said Kathy Mason, an OTPP member and retired school librarian in Oakville, Ontario. “It’s no wonder that OTPP refuses to stop investing in oil, gas and pipelines when these are the people on my pension’s board.”
Shift’s report underscores the need for the external entities that appoint or approve new pension directors (governments, employers, unions and trustees), and the pension funds themselves, to proactively establish stronger safeguards and transparency measures to prevent both real and perceived conflicts of interest.
The number of Canadian pension boards with fossil-linked directors has decreased since Shift’s 2022 analysis, with just five fossil-entangled boards in 2025 compared to seven in 2022. The boards of the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, Investment Management Corporation of Ontario and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec are now fossil-free, an improvement since 2022.
“Pension boards face difficult governance decisions to reduce the climate impact of their investments and reduce fund exposure to risky stranded assets in the fossil fuel sector,” said Adam Scott, Executive Director of Shift: Action for Pension Wealth & Planet Health. “Climate-related board decisions from funds managing hundreds of billions in assets have major implications for fossil fuel companies. It’s easy to see how fossil fuel company directors could potentially find themselves with real or perceived conflicts, and how such conflicts, if not addressed, could undermine prudent pension governance.”
You can find the full report, Entrenched Interests: Fossil Fuel Ties on Canada’s Pension Boards, here.
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 & 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.
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