Photo by Weerasaksaeku from Getty Images/Canva
Canada’s second-largest pension fund, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, has committed to fully divesting in oil by the end of 2022, as part of their new climate change strategy. With the financial cost of the climate crisis and environmental impacts in mind, the investment community is starting to realize that there are better investment opportunities than fossil fuels that offer both comparable profits and a sustainable future. Currently, Caisse has nearly $4 billion sunk into oil-related investments, but following the divestment, the pension giant intends to invest a whopping $54 billion into “green assets” by 2025. Their climate change strategy also outlines their plan to reduce their carbon footprint by 60% by 2030. Since the oil and gas industry heavily depends on institutional investors including pension funds, divestment will affect their ability to grow and expand. As Caisse CEO Charles Edmond told CBC, “the climate situation affects everyone, and we can no longer address it with the same methods used a few years ago.” He continues, “We have to make important decisions on issues such as oil production and decarbonizing sectors that are essential to our economies.”