British Columbians, many of whose pension funds are entrusted to BCI, faced worsening climate impacts while BCI conducted 39 engagements with energy sector companies. BCI's otherwise comprehensive and thoughtful engagement program is undermined by its pointless engagement with fossil fuel companies that have no path for transition.
British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), with $131.7 billion in assets under management, is the investment manager for participants in public pension plans in British Columbia, including the Municipal Pension Plan, Public Service Pension Plan, Teachers’ Pension Plan and College Pension Plan, among others. BCI's engagement and stewardship decisions can, under the right circumstances, move companies to develop and implement credible climate transition plans – but many fossil fuel-linked companies do not have a credible path to do so.
With the September 29 release of the investment manager’s 2025-2026 Stewardship Report, BCI appears to be productively engaging in climate policy advocacy, using its voice to influence the regulatory measures guiding capital markets, and stewarding select companies to set climate targets or make climate-related disclosures. But the investment manager’s climate engagement program is weakened by its failure to plainly state that climate-related impacts will continue to get worse until fossil fuel production and combustion are phased out. BCI continues to spend significant time and resources engaging the energy sector on “environment” while the sector continues to expand fossil fuel production, increase emissions, roll back regulatory guardrails, and delay climate action.
In the face of growing climate-related risks, BCI should:
a) focus on engaging with only those companies that have credible transition pathways to align with net-zero emissions;
b) limit exposure to fossil fuel companies, which are either unwilling or unable to change their core business model;
c) strengthen its policy advocacy by communicating the existential risk that pension managers and the wider economy face as the world continues to burn fossil fuels;
d) move from engaging on “Indigenous relations” to upholding Indigenous rights;
e) evaluate any investment or engagement through the lens of both a credible climate strategy and the principle of Indigenous peoples’ free, prior and informed consent.
Read our full analysis of BCI's 2025-2026 Stewardship Report here (pdf).