When the main speaker for an event is the P.R. man, expect some rationalizations. On Nov.4, 2024 the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) invited the Vancouver public to participate in a question and answer period and hear from their Senior Management Team, who consisted of Michel Leduc, the Head of Communications. First, the good news; according to Leduc, the Canada Pension Plan is doing well and is the envy of the world.
Now for the bad news; there were questions about how they make their money. My question concerned climate change and divestment from fossil fuels. According to the Shift Report: Our Money in the Canada Pension Plan, the CPP Board made five new major investments in fossil fuel companies in 2024 alone, bringing the total to 64 billion dollars invested in fossil fuels. Although they have a significant investment in green assets, fossil fuels are the main driver of climate change.
The Oct.28, UN Climate Change Report said that current national climate plans guarantee a human and economic train wreck for every country, without exception. I asked Leduc, “Could greenhouse gas emissions be cut to 60% from 2019 levels by the new UN target date of 2035 to save the planet?” I proposed this rather than the CPPIB’s future projection of 2050 for which they have no plan to get to zero-net emissions, have set no interim targets and even if they reached their target at 2050, it would be too late for the planet.
Leduc did his usual rationalization saying, we believe in a transition with the company to drive down greenhouse gas emissions over time, or some sort of thing. He also said “it’s complicated” and they’re part of the global economy.
The UN Report says that we must get greenhouse gas emissions reduced by 2035 because, “(It) is critical to limiting global heating to 1.5 Degrees C this century to avert the worse climate impacts. Every fraction of a degree matters, as climate disasters get rapidly worse.” The Canada Pension Plan is about providing for a safe future, but ironically with the course they’re on, as they expand rather than divest their investments in fossil fuels, there is no safe future.
In Canada and around the world, due to climate change, we face raging forest fires, floods, and drought, extreme thunderstorms, melting arctic ice and permafrost, warming oceans and rising seas. I shudder to think it could get worse.
The CPPIB distributed an evaluation form and asked the participants, “How would I rate my overall satisfaction with the meeting?” That would be Very Unsatisfactory. They also asked if we feel more informed about CPPIB investment approach to investing the CPP Fund. Oh, yes. That would be – Make Money Whatever the Cost to the Planet.
In a follow-up virtual session, over 7,500 Leadnow, supporters (Leadnow is an advocacy organization) submitted questions for the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. In the hour long session, despite the overwhelming Canadian public concern over climate change, only one question on fossil fuel investment was asked.
The question was, “If you have a mandate to invest without undue risk of loss … how come you invest in fossil fuel companies who are actively contributing to the largest risk of loss that Canada has ever faced: climate change? What do you say to Canadians who lost their homes to forest fires caused by climate change?”
CPPIB’s CEO John Graham answered that “we need to continue to support the oil and gas industry” and that “divesting is a short on human ingenuity.” Leadnow also reported that CPPIB made the claim that “we see (natural gas) as a transition fuel, relative to coal for example, or oil.” This contradicts climate science. “Studies indicate that LNG may actually pollute more than coal, challenging claims about its surprised benefits as a coal replacement.”
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is clearly more concerned about profiteering from oil and gas investments than about the serious consequences of climate change.
Painting, Dying Forests by Jan Bruce, Acrylic on Canvas 16 x 20
