Lately I have become involved in a senior’s climate action group called SCAN! https://seniorsforclimateactionnow.org/
We are building a seniors’ group that is democratic, accountable, equitable and participatory.
SCAN! believes we need decisive action to:
*rapidly drive down carbon emissions and eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels and petrochemicals;
*support those whose jobs have been destroyed by the climate crisis and those whose jobs are threatened by dramatically reducing carbon emissions;
*begin to restore the ecological damage caused by economic growth; and
*transition from an economy:
-of accumulation to an economy of sustainability
-of extraction to an economy of stewardship
-of exploitation and inequality to an economy of fairness.
One of the initiatives SCAN has undertaken is in the area of Pension Divestment. Here is a piece that the Chair of our Pension Divestment Working Group penned for the Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2021/10/04/seniors-are-calling-on-cpp-investments-to-divest-from-fossil-fuels.html
Recently, I wrote to John Graham, President and CEO of CPP Investments. CPP Investments is a global investment management organisation that invests the assets of the Canada Pension Plan. Incredibly, they have actually been increasing investments in fossil fuels, especially the tar sands fuelling the climate crisis! CPP Investments should be showing leadership by investing heavily in renewable energy.
A copy of my letter is below.
Please consider sending a similar letter.
Thanks,
Bob Wood
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and Heather Munro-Blum, Chairperson, Board of Directors
CPP Investments
One Queen Street East, Suite 2500
Toronto, ON, M5C 2W5
contact@cppib.com
Dear Mr. Graham and Ms. Munro-Blum,
I am a senior and a beneficiary of the Canada Pension Plan. As I have grown older, I’ve experienced the growing strength of climate change. I am concerned with the force and severity of the weather we now experience. I am devastated at the destruction of our forests and wildlife from forest fires. I am horrified at so many needless, climate-related deaths. I have become increasingly aware of how marginalized and Indigenous communities are disproportionally affected. I worry about the world my loved ones will inherit.
A recent report from United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change makes it clear that we must keep fossil fuels in the ground and move quickly to clean, renewable energy. This same body warned us all in 2018 that “limiting global warming to 1.5⁰C would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.” Three years later, but with still little action from the world’s leaders on the climate crisis, the head of the UN has declared that humanity is in a Code Red situation.
I am very concerned at what I have learned about CPP Investments’ fossil fuel holdings:
• nearly 20 per cent of its Canadian holdings in Alberta, in fossil fuels;
• extensive holdings in U.S. fracking companies;
• coal investments in China, in spite of Canada’s international campaign to transition from coal;
• a major offshore natural gas investment in Ireland.
But most distressing is that that CPP Investments has actually been increasing investments in fossil fuels, especially the tar sands. You are fuelling the climate crisis! You should be showing leadership by investing heavily in renewable energy.
As someone who has contributed to the CPP I am, effectively, a shareholder. My children are contributors and are therefore future beneficiaries. We insist that our money be used to help solve the climate crisis, not contribute to it.
I try to make environmentally and socially aware decisions, whether about purchases, or household energy conservation, for example. I therefore want to ensure the investments that fund my retirement don’t further endanger our children, future generations, and our planet.
As you are responsible for the largest pension fund in Canada, you must ensure that the CPP is funded in keeping with a 1.5⁰C degree of warming. It is imperative that you not make new investments in fossil fuels and that you divest from existing ones by 2025. You must invest ambitiously in renewable energy – which is extremely profitable – and other climate solutions. You must respect the sovereignty of Indigenous people and invest in a just transition for energy workers and their communities. You must stop betting on dubious technologies like carbon capture and storage.
Finally, in keeping with your biannual public meeting’s emphasis on transparency, I want improved disclosure, so that contributors and beneficiaries can see how you invest our money.
I look forward to your response.
Bob Wood
Copy: divestmentproject@seniorsforclimateactionnow.org
