Canada’s largest pension funds boosted their investments in the country’s oil sands companies during this year’s first quarter.
The cumulative investment by the country's top five pension funds into Canada's top four oil sands producers rose to $2.4 billion in the first quarter, up 147% from a year earlier.
The five pension funds are the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, the British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, which together manage more than $1.4 trillion in assets.
Governments, companies and investors around the world have pledged to reduce climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions. Some large pension managers, including the New York State Pension Fund and Norway’s KLP have exited oil sands company investments altogether.
Canadian pensions face pressure to balance environmentally responsible investing with a fiduciary duty to maximize returns. Canada’s oil sands are a high-carbon industry, yet their rising shares prices are beneficial to investors.
Some Canadian pension funds say they continue to invest in fossil fuel producers to help those firms transition toward producing cleaner energy.
The oil sands companies that the Canadian pension funds were most invested in during the first quarter were Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ), Suncor Energy (TSX:SU), Cenovus Energy (TSX:CVE) and Imperial Oil (TSX:IMO).
