Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Montreal, announced a new climate strategy that includes completing a divestment from oil production holdings by the end of 2022.
The C$390 billion ($315.2 billion) pension fund also announced in a news release Tuesday it plans to increase the value of its low-carbon portfolio to C$54 billion by 2025 and reduce the carbon intensity per dollar invested by 60% by 2030.
In the news release, the pension fund said the completion of its exit from investing in oil production holdings will allow the pension fund to "avoid contributing to the growth of the world's oil supply." The news release said oil production holdings currently account for 1% of its overall portfolio.
In its 2020 Stewardship Investment Report with data as of Dec. 31, the pension fund had reported C$34 billion in low-carbon assets and had reduced its carbon intensity by 38% since 2017 when CDPQ launched its first climate strategy, well above the prior goal of reducing it by 25% by 2025.
"The climate situation affects everyone, and we can no longer address it with the same methods used a few years ago," said Charles Emond, president and CEO of CDPQ, in the news release. "The urgent need to act demands that we do more, faster, and that we innovate. We have to make important decisions on issues such as oil production and decarbonizing sectors that are essential to our economies. With this new strategy, we are demonstrating our leadership as an investor and enter the next stage of climate investing. We believe this is in the interests of our depositors, our portfolio companies and the communities we invest in."
CDPQ officials could not be immediately reached for further information.
The pension fund's climate strategy report is available on its website.
