Most of the country’s top pension funds have ties to oil and gas. Some Canadians are pushing back | 24CA News
Despite mounting strain from Canadians who need their cash to cease supporting oil and fuel, nearly all of the nation’s largest pension fund managers proceed to put money into that sector — and are led by people with shut ties to fossil gasoline corporations.
24CA News reviewed publicly-available bios and resumes of leaders overseeing Canada’s 10 largest pension fund managers and located that eight organizations have at the least one high-ranking member, both a board member or an government, who’s actively directing an organization within the oil or fuel sector.
Those corporations embody oil and fuel manufacturing companies, pipeline operators, gasoline retailers and drilling rig contractors.
Current legal guidelines and rules don’t bar administrators from holding roles at pension funds and firms within the oil and fuel sector.
“There’s nothing wrong with a director being on more than one board. There’s nothing in law that prohibits you from doing so,” stated company governance skilled and Osgoode Hall Law School Prof. Barnali Choudhury.
However, Choudhury stated she understands why it would increase questions for some. She inspired members with considerations to contact their pensions to advocate for stronger local weather motion.
24CA News spoke with a number of individuals who have been doing precisely that — advocating for their pension funds to divest from oil and fuel. Ties between board members and oil and fuel corporations have them questioning whose pursuits are actually being prioritized.
‘I’m going to … put money into one thing that I do know is harming you’
Teri Burgess teaches Grade 4 in Comox Valley, on Vancouver Island in B.C. She stated youngsters at this time are rising up beneath the shadow of a altering local weather, and the concept a part of her paycheque could contribute to that’s past irritating.
“It’s ridiculous to think that [pension directors] can serve the needs of their members as well as sit on another board,” stated Burgess, who has two sons.
Burgess is attending her union’s annual basic assembly this weekend, the place she plans to help motions advocating for the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation to foyer their pension to divest.
Members have known as for divestment prior to now, however Burgess and others say they have not seen practically sufficient progress.
According to a 2022 funding stock replace on BCI’s web site, the pension fund supervisor holds shares in a variety of oil and fuel corporations together with ConocoPhillips, the corporate behind the controversial Willow oil drilling mission in Alaska.
Burgess stated she would not need her revenue invested in key drivers of greenhouse fuel emissions.
“I don’t know any colleague of mine in any school who wants to stand at the front of the room and say, ‘Hey kids … I’m going to continue to invest in something that I know is harming you.'”
Burgess’s pension fund is managed by the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI). Its government vice-president and international head of infrastructure and renewable sources, Lincoln Webb, can also be the chair of the supervisory board of pure fuel transmission community Open Grid Europe, and a board member of Czech Gas Networks.
Neither Webb nor BCI’s media relations staff responded to CBC’s a number of makes an attempt to get in contact for remark.
Meanwhile, BCI has acknowledged in earlier statements that “climate change poses a systemic risk to the value of our clients’ portfolios and to the global economy” and stated it supported “the global path of net zero.”
It’s one instance of how, regardless of various levels of local weather commitments and net-zero insurance policies from eight of Canada’s largest pension fund managers, there proceed to be overlaps between the oil and fuel business and people funds, which characterize a complete of about $1.96 trillion in web property.
Whose pursuits are they looking for?
It’s merely “incompatible” to have pension board members sitting on oil and fuel corporations, based on retired economist Roy Culpeper.
Culpeper, who lives in Ottawa, used to work within the federal division of finance. One of the administrators of his pension fund supervisor — PSP Investments — is Miranda Hubbs, who additionally serves on the board of Imperial Oil.
“It seems to me … impossible to serve both the interests of a major fossil fuel company on the one hand, and the interests of the pension fund and its beneficiaries on the other hand,” Culpeper stated.
While day-to-day funding selections aren’t typically made by board members, they do usually set technique and approve overarching funding insurance policies.
Culpeper’s concern is echoed by Andy Kroeker, government director of the West Elgin Community Health Centre in southwestern Ontario.
“I don’t see how that conflict can not be a real one,” he stated.
Kroeker’s pension fund — HOOPP — represents Ontario healthcare staff and already has a tobacco-free funding coverage.
Like tobacco, Kroeker stated local weather change is a menace to individuals’s well being and ought to be handled the identical.
“I think HOOPP is making some strides … but my expectation is full divestment,” he stated.
Pension fund managers deny battle of curiosity
CBC reached out to every pension group and particular person named on this story. None of them agreed to an interview. Three responded with written statements.
A spokesperson for the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board stated through e-mail that “it does not make sense to suggest there is a conflict of interest because a director has experience in one specific area.”
The CDPQ highlighted that as of June of final 12 months, it had divested from 90 per cent of its oil manufacturing property, and stated the board member who works with Texas oil and fuel exploration firm Pioneer Natural Resources has a give attention to local weather and sustainable investments.
A spokesperson for AIMCo stated “board members are not selected on the basis of their particular sectoral experience, but rather the complement of skills and acumen that they bring.”
For the aim of transparency, CBC additionally reviewed the listing of board members and managers by itself pension plan. None of them had obvious ties to corporations within the oil or fuel sector.
Canadian pension funds lag behind others
Sustainable finance group Shift Action tracks the local weather commitments of Canada’s largest pensions and just lately graded their sustainability in a report card.
Patrick Derochie, senior supervisor for Shift Action, stated whereas some funds are exhibiting indicators of progress via net-zero targets and extra funding in renewable vitality, there’s nonetheless an extended strategy to go.
“Canada is behind on this issue,” Derochie stated.
The New York state pension fund and Europe’s largest pension fund (APB) have each made the choice to drop fossil gasoline shares.
In Canada, the Quebec pension fund supervisor CDPQ is the one one which has dedicated to excluding oil producers from their portfolio, however not fuel.
“The investment decisions of these pension funds can determine how quickly we shift away from fossil fuels, how quickly we reduce carbon emissions,” Derochie stated.
Derochie wonders whether or not administrators who’re on the boards of fossil gasoline corporations try to advance the pursuits of oil and fuel on the pension fund.
“That pension fund director who has to serve the interests of Imperial Oil … that’s a very different thing than the best interests of you or I.”
Who are the pension fund leaders with ties to grease and fuel?
- Board member with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).
- Board member with Kiwetinohk Energy Corp. (Alberta-based pure fuel producer).
- Board member at Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ, Quebec’s pension fund supervisor).
- Board member with Pioneer Natural Resources (Texas oil and fuel exploration and manufacturing firm).
- Board member with CPPIB, in addition to president.
- Corporate secretary and director of Royal Canadian Securities Limited (holding firm of gasoline retailer Domo Gasoline).
- Board chair with Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO).
- Board member with Precision Drilling Corporation (Alberta-based oil and fuel drilling rig contractor).
- Board member with the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSPIB).
- Board member with Imperial Oil (Canadian petroleum refiner, crude oil and pure fuel producer).
- Board member with Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo).
- Board member with Suncor (Alberta-based oil producer and refinery).
- Board member with Cheniere Energy (Texas-based proprietor and operator of liquefied pure fuel terminals).
- Board member with CPPIB.
- Board member with Capital Power (Alberta energy technology firm which owns and operates pure fuel, photo voltaic, and wind technology services).
- Board member with the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP).
- Board member with Washington Gas.
- Board member with NuVista Energy (oil and fuel exploration, growth and manufacturing firm).
- Board member with Parkland Corporation (Alberta-based provider of gasoline and operator of Chevron, Pioneer, Ultramar and Esso), board member with Trican Well Service (offers tools and providers for oil and fuel wells).
- Executive vice-president and head of infrastructure and renewable Resources at BCI.
- Chair of the supervisory board of Open Grid Europe (pure fuel transmission community).
- Board member with Czech Gas Networks.
- Board member with the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP.)
- Board member with Teine Energy (Alberta-based oil and fuel exploration, growth and manufacturing firm).
