Statement: Appointment of oil and gas company director to CPPIB board renews fossil fuel entanglement concerns amid climate-risk litigation
Toronto, ON | Traditional territories of the Wendat, Anishnaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Chippewas, and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation
With an ongoing legal challenge in progress over its management of climate-related financial risk, a new climate-conflicted director has been appointed to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), the investment manager overseeing nearly $800 billion in retirement savings for more than 22 million Canadians. This latest appointee, Dr. Elizabeth Cannon, also serves on the board of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL), one of Canada's largest oil and gas producers, creating the potential for conflicts of interest for the fund’s management of climate-related financial risk. Three of CPPIB’s 12 directors now have fossil fuel industry entanglements.
When individuals concurrently serve on the boards of pension funds and fossil fuel companies, it creates a governance risk. Such dual roles can lead to competing obligations between maximizing returns for fossil fuel shareholders and acting in the best long-term interests of pension beneficiaries, creating potential conflicts of interest and raising questions about whether climate-related financial risks are being assessed independently. Good governance requires both avoiding conflicts and maintaining public confidence in independent decision-making.
The best long-term interests of pension beneficiaries are aligned with investing for a safe climate, not the fossil fuel expansion interests of oil and gas corporate shareholders. However, CNRL’s board and investors – including CPPIB, which held approximately $2.345 billion in CNRL as at March 31, 2026 – have not credibly steered the company to effectively oversee and manage its own significant climate-related risks. During Dr. Cannon’s tenure as a corporate director for CNRL, the company has lobbied for a major overhaul of federal climate and energy policies, advocating for the removal of federal emissions targets and environmental protections. Climate Action 100+, an international investor group that engages companies to align business models to a safe climate, issued its latest assessment of CNRL in October 2025, showing that the company fails to meet any criteria of alignment to net-zero.
Over the past year, CPPIB has publicly promoted its investment in Canada’s largest oil and gas producer while failing to accurately communicate the risks of climate change for its portfolio. In May 2025, the pension manager abandoned its net-zero commitment, and in October 2025 a legal challenge was filed over its climate-related risk management.
The federal government should adopt criteria for CPPIB board appointments which prevents potential industry conflicts of interest, ensures adequate climate expertise on the board, and provides greater transparency for how appointment decisions are made.
Additional information
Entrenched Interests: Fossil Fuel Ties on Canada’s Pension Boards (June 2025)
As climate-fueled wildfires rage, CPPIB praises Canada’s largest oil & gas producer (August 25, 2025)
Canada’s largest pension investment manager sued over alleged climate risk mismanagement (October 27, 2025)
For interview requests
Adam Scott, Executive Director, Shift Action for Pension Wealth & Planet Health
adamscott@shiftaction.ca
416-347-3858
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.