ACTION ALERT - Register and submit your climate questions to the Canada Pension Plan's National Virtual Meeting

On Tuesday, November 1st from 12:00 - 1:00 pm ET, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments, or CPPIB) is hosting a National Virtual Meeting. 

This is a rare opportunity for Canadians like you to ask how CPPIB is protecting our retirement savings in the face of a worsening climate crisis, and to question the high-risk fossil fuel investments CPPIB is making on our behalf.

When you register, you can submit your questions about climate risk and fossil fuels. You can also email additional questions to contact@cppib.com. Looking for more information about CPPIB’s investments in oil, gas, coal and pipelines to help you draft your questions? Check out our CPPIB Sample Questions and Climate Action Toolkit to get started.

CPPIB is the $523 billion manager of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) for you and over 21 million Canadians. Outside of Quebec, every working Canadian pays into the CPP with every paycheck, while retired Canadians count on the CPP for monthly retirement income. While CPPIB has committed to net-zero emissions by 2050 and considers climate change in its investment strategy, it continues to invest our national retirement savings in the primary cause of the climate crisis– fossil fuels. As of summer 2022, CPPIB had $21.72 billion invested in fossil fuel producers. 

And CPPIB doesn’t just provide financing to and own shares in fossil fuel companies. In many cases, Canada’s national pension manager privately owns oil and gas producers, fossil gas pipelines, coal- and gas-fired power plants, gasoline stations, offshore gas fields and fracking companies all over the world. Meanwhile, over one-quarter of CPPIB’s Board of Directors has close ties to the fossil fuel industry, raising questions about their ability to objectively manage climate-related risks and the phase-out of fossil fuel assets.

But CPPIB has so far refused to answer detailed questions about its climate strategy or provide a comprehensive list of the fossil fuel assets in its portfolio. A senior CPPIB executive recently said he sees “no contradiction whatsoever” between the fund’s focus on climate change and its massive investments in fossil fuels. CPPIB’s Head of Sustainable Investing even claimed recently that Big Oil could somehow become “no-carbon oil.” Unlike other high-carbon sectors, there is no credible or profitable pathway for oil and gas companies to align with climate goals. 

We need to make sure that CPPIB gets the message: investing in a safe climate future requires an immediate end to fossil fuel expansion and a rapid phase-out of oil, gas and coal. That’s why it’s so important for Canadians like you to register for CPPIB’s National Virtual Meeting and ask questions about climate risks and fossil fuels.

Need some help thinking of questions to submit? Check out our CPPIB Sample Questions and Climate Action Toolkit to get started. 

It’s not often that Canadians have an opportunity to directly question our national pension managers. Join Canadians from coast to coast to attend CPPIB’s National Virtual Meeting and make sure our half-trillion-dollar pension fund is invested in a safe climate future.

Thanks for all you do,

Patrick, Laura and Adam
#ShiftCPP

P.S. Do you have any climate-concerned friends, family or colleagues that don’t want the Canada Pension Plan investing in fossil fuels? Ask them to send a letter to the CPPIB using our online action tool.