Canada's Second Largest Pension Fund Ending Oil Investments

Montreal, Sept 28 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Sep, 2021 ) :Canada's second-largest pension fund said Tuesday it will withdraw from investing in the oil sector by the end of 2022.

The move was part of a larger commitment to make the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) portfolio of investments "net-zero by 2050," senior managers told a news conference.

The fund will also offer financial help to companies in its portfolio, which is worth Can$390 billion (US$305 billion), to decarbonize their operations, they said, with the aim of slashing their overall carbon emissions by 60 percent from 2017 levels by 2030.

"The urgency to act pushes us to go further, faster and to innovate," said CDPQ chief executive Charles Emond.

CDPQ, he said, is on track to "complete its exit from oil production" by the end of 2022.

The move comes amid increased calls by environmental activists and Quebec residents for the institutional investor, which manages public pension funds and insurance programs in the Canadian province, to step up its climate efforts, including getting out of fossil fuel investments entirely.

In its last annual report on December 31, 2020, the CDPQ listed in its portfolio oil and pipeline companies such as Enbridge, Canadian National Resources Limited, Suncor and TC Energy.

These oil industry investments represent around one percent of its total investments and are worth roughly Can$4 billion.

"We don't think that (the oil sector) has a sustainable future, so we decided to limit our exposure only to existing pipelines," Emond said.

The CDPQ has also set itself the objective of tripling the value of green assets in its portfolio to Can$54 billion by 2025.