Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health’s Post

We've recently heard from the leaders of the biggest pension funds in Canada, including CPP Investments | Investissements RPC, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ). PSP Investments and others, that natural gas is a "transition fuel" that is "cleaner" than coal. This is a dangerous, outdated falsehood-- surely something that the smart and dedicated sustainable investing staff at these pension funds recognize needs to be corrected. It's particularly relevant because Canadian pension funds own significant gas production, distribution and transmission assets in Canada and all over the world. "Natural gas is not a transition fuel to clean energy in any way whatsoever, and we need to avoid its use everywhere possible if we are going to avoid irreversible climate breakdown, with its huge consequences – environmentally, socially and economically. In fact, from a climate-change perspective, 'natural' gas is nearly as dirty as coal, and LNG is even worse. 'Natural' gas is actually methane, a potent greenhouse gas. And while it is true that at the point of burning it creates less environmental damage than coal, it is also true that because of leaks in the gas distribution systems that dangerously release methane directly to the air, the overall harmful impact on our climate of using gas to generate electricity or heat our homes and office buildings is nearly as bad as coal. This is well established, as C40 Cities' October, 2022, study demonstrates. LNG is far worse. New research published in the Energy, Science and Research Journal confirms what industry insiders have known for a long time – that the process of liquefying and transporting LNG creates significant carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane emissions, which according to the study, makes LNG a higher-emitting fuel than coal. These conclusions are supported by significant data and are consistent with other evidence. The general point is irrefutable: producing and using gas, particularly LNG, is significantly harmful to our climate. The oil and gas industry surely knows all of this – the companies have superb scientists and engineers, and we know from court documents that they have known for decades that their products cause climate change – yet they and their advocates still perpetuate the false idea that LNG and gas are clean, safe alternatives." https://lnkd.in/gW--gwmN

Why do our pension funds continue to invest our savings in an industry that refuses to align its business model with our retirement security in a safe climate future. Pension funds' "engagement" of oil and gas companies has failed. Federal climate policies have finally begun to drive down Canada's greenhouse gas emissions, with overall emissions the lowest in 25 years with the exception of 2020 and 2021 (when the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout resulted in a sharp drop in emissions). But #oilsands emissions continue to climb, increasing by 240% since 2005 and now accounting for nearly one-third of Canada's overall emissions. Oil and gas emissions are expected to increase even more in the years to come, as producers ramp up production to fill new pipelines like the TransMountain Expansion and Coastal GasLink. Nichole Dusyk, a senior policy adviser with the International Institute for Sustainable Development, said that “Failure to address rising oil and gas emissions will mean continued failure on Canada’s part to meet its climate targets, with far-reaching consequences for the environment, public health and future generations.” Catherine Abreu, founder of Destination Zero and a member of Canada’s Net-Zero Advisory Body said that if oil and gas sector emissions are allowed to continue rising, it means other sectors of the economy and other regions of the country have a heavier lift ahead of them to meet the country’s emission reduction targets. "We see that one part of the country (Alberta) is now contributing over a third of Canadian emissions, and that is a challenge. But as we have to continue deepening the action we’re taking on climate change … it will be a bigger and bigger question of whether it’s fair and makes sense for us to be attributing this very rapidly shrinking carbon budget for Canada to one sector and one place alone.” “Our concerns are centred about the emissions from the oil and gas sector – and more specifically, around the #oilsands sector in Alberta,” said MC Bouchard, director of oil and gas with the Pembina Institute, a clean-energy think tank. #cdnpoli #onpoli #ableg #sustainablefinance #climaterisk

Canada's largest pension funds continue to invest billions of dollars of our savings in oil, gas, coal and pipeline companies that are undermining our retirement security in a safe climate future-- and showing no ability or willingness to change. It's time for our pension managers to acknowledge that achieving net-zero by 2050 requires a rapid phase-out of fossil fuels, and exit this climate-wrecking industry.

Will Canada's pension funds continue risking our retirement savings on high-risk, uneconomical, ineffective, unscalable carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) schemes that prolong the use of oil, gas and coal? While CCUS may play a small role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in some industries like cement, phasing out #fossilfuels remains critical to fighting climate change. So far, CCUS has served to prop up the fossil fuel industry, with a large majority of captured carbon used to extract more oil and gas. In the process, oil and gas companies continue to expand production while siphoning precious money, labour and time away from the deployment of proven climate solutions. “Carbon capture and storage essentially perpetuates fossil fuel reliance. It’s a distraction and a delay tactic,” says Jennie Stephens, a climate justice researcher at Northeastern University in Boston. According to the Global CCS Institute, a large majority of the CCUS projects in commercial operation as of July 2023 are part of efforts to produce, extract or burn fossil fuels. Nearly three-quarters of the carbon captured through CCUS projects is used to extract more oil. Current and future projects are unlikely to capture carbon in sufficient quantities to make much of a dent on global emissions, with experts calculating that CCUS might provide between 1% and 2.4% of all emissions reductions. Furthermore, CCUS projects rarely meet their stated targets for emissions reduction, while there is significant uncertainty around the amount of underground storage capacity to sequester carbon. And CCUS is extremely expensive, especially compared to mature, proven, scalable technologies whose costs have plummeted, such as wind, solar and energy storage. Given the uncertainties, we can’t continue to burn fossil fuels and release carbon and count on CCUS to clean it up afterward. “We have to do all that we can to reduce emissions in the short to medium term rather than rely on CO2 removals in the longer run," says Sabine Fuss, a climate economist at the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change and at Humboldt University of Berlin.

Canada's pension funds must stop pretending that they will be able to fulfill their mandate if the world fails to avert the worst outcomes of the #climatecrisis. There is no retirement security without a safe climate future to retire into. A new peer-reviewed study finds that average incomes will fall by almost a fifth by 2050, largely due to the escalating climate crisis that will bring more frequent and intense extreme weather and inflict crippling economic damages on every country. Maximilian Kotz, an author of the study, said: “Strong income reductions are projected for the majority of regions, including North America and Europe, with south Asia and Africa being most strongly affected. These are caused by the impact of climate change on various aspects that are relevant for economic growth such as agricultural yields, labour productivity or infrastructure.” The study also looked at the second half of this century, where human actions now can still make a big difference. If business as usual continues, the authors projected average income losses of more than 60% by 2100. But if emissions fall to net zero by mid century, income declines will stabilise by mid century at about 20%. Anders Levermann, the head of complexity science at the Potsdam Institute, said: “It is on us to decide: structural change towards a renewable energy system is needed for our security and will save us money. Staying on the path we are currently on will lead to catastrophic consequences. The temperature of the planet can only be stabilised if we stop burning oil, gas and coal.” #cdnpoli #climatecrisis

❌Amidst unprecedented warm temperatures globally, the oil giant Shell watered down its emissions reduction target from 20% to 15-20% by 2030. ❌ Citing “uncertainty in the pace of change in the energy transition”, CEO Wael Sawan is boosting profits and natural gas production over the rest of the world's health, despite an enormous $28 billion profit in 2023 for the company. As the international panel on climate change (IPCC)'s scientists warn, this decade will be crucial to prevent climate change catastrophe. This action is not just a setback, it's a direct affront to global efforts to combat climate change, and it should be politically unacceptable. #stopfossilfuels #climatechange

By a slim 51.5% - 48.5% margin, Washington State voters passed a ballot initiative on U.S. election day that would repeal provisions of a law intended to accelerate the transition away from gas by utility Puget Sound Energy (PSE), which is owned by Canadian pension funds. If certified, Initiative-2066 would remove requirements for PSE to study electrification efforts, prevent approval of utility rate plans that end or restrict access to gas, erase changes to the state's energy code that offer builders incentives for choosing electric heat pumps over gas furnaces, and ensure the the state's energy code cannot "prohibit, penalize or discourage the use of gas." PSE was opposed to the ballot initiative, which was pushed by gas companies, Republican superPACs and gas industry front groups. Clean energy supporters and opponents of the ballot initiative will likely launch a legal challenge to the ballot initiative, which they say is unconstitutional. “If it is allowed to stand, Initiative-2066 would guarantee higher energy costs in the coming years by rolling back tools that help utilities plan for the future. This poorly written initiative would have a host of consequences for energy affordability, clean air and the climate,” said Molly Gallagher, communications coordinator for the Statewide Poverty Action Network PSE is 23.9% owned by OMERS, 20.9% by the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), 15.8% by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and 13.6% by Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), as well as by Brookfield and a Dutch pension fund. Replacing fossil-fueled power generation with renewable energy and phasing out gas is a smart investment for Canadian pension funds and for the climate. But Initiative-2066 underscores the risks that gas and electric utilities must navigate in their efforts to decarbonize their businesses in line with net-zero commitments.

Canada's public pension funds are heavily invested in European companies and own real assets all over Europe, including ports, electric and gas utilities, data centres, transportation infrastructure and telecommunications networks. This makes these pension fund assets particularly exposed to the escalating physical risks of climate change. A new report from the European Environment Agency warns that the continent is unprepared for the increasingly destructive impacts of climate change, even if the world manages to keep global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. This includes significant climate-change-fueled environmental degradation, economic damage, food and water shortages, social emergencies and political turbulence, exacerbated by coastal flooding, crop failures, megadroughts, heat waves, wildfires and other climate disasters that could wreack havoc on Europe's infrastructure. “If decisive action is not taken now, most climate risks identified [in the assessment] could reach critical or catastrophic levels by the end of this century,” the report’s summary says. “Hundreds of thousands of people would die from heatwaves, and economic losses from coastal floods alone could exceed €1 trillion per year.” This is all expected to occur within the lifetimes of pension plan members contributing to their funds today. There is no retirement security without a safe climate future to retire into. Do Canada's pension funds understand what's at stake? #climaterisk #cdnpoli

Canada's pension funds, with the exception of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), continue to invest our savings in fossil fuel companies that are undermining our retirement security in a safe climate future, while claiming that their "engagement" is somehow influencing these companies. Shift endorsed the "Big Oil Reality Check" report, released yesterday by our partners at Oil Change International. The analysis assesses the climate pledges and plans of eight international oil and gas companies – Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, TotalEnergies, BP, Eni, Equinor, and ConocoPhillips – against 10 criteria representing the bare minimum for aligning with the Paris Agreement to limit global heating below 1.5°C. The analysis finds that: -These oil majors fail to align with international agreements to phase out #fossilfuels and to limit global temperature rise to 1.5ºC. Every company is “Grossly Insufficient” or “Insufficient” on a majority of criteria. -Combined, these 8 companies’ current oil and gas extraction plans are consistent with more than 2.4°C of global temperature rise, likely leading to global devastation. -These 8 companies alone are on track to use 30% of our remaining carbon budget to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. -Of the 8 analyzed companies, 6 have explicit goals to increase oil and gas production. Even those without such plans are advancing new fossil fuel projects and selling polluting assets rather than shutting them down, masking their actions as contributing to an energy transition while perpetuating climate pollution. -None of the companies have set comprehensive targets to ensure their total emissions decline rapidly and consistently, starting now. Every company intends to rely on carbon capture and storage (CCS), offsets, and/or other methods that delay and distract from ending fossil fuels, and prolong the health and community safety impacts of fossil fuels.  -All companies fail to meet basic criteria for just transition plans for workers and communities where they operate. -All companies fail to meet basic criteria on upholding human rights. David Tong, report author and Global Industry Campaign Manager at Oil Change International, said: “Our findings reveal how it’s clearer than ever that oil and gas companies – the climate arsonists fueling climate chaos – cannot be trusted to put out the fire. There is no evidence that big oil and gas companies are acting seriously to be part of the energy transition.” Read the full report and analysis here: https://lnkd.in/dSBQqGxY Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) BCI CAAT Pension Plan CPP Investments | Investissements RPC HOOPP (Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan) Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO) OMERS OPTrust Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan PSP Investments University Pension Plan Ontario

A new Payne Financial Flow from Payne Institute for Public Policy: we assess a study by #climate analytics firm TransitionZero that suggests that the cost of buying out Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) for over 1/2 of #coalpower in the #philippines is not so onerous (<$30/ton of avoided CO2). #decarbonization #energytransition https://lnkd.in/dCCVNy-4