Ontario Municipal Employees' Retirement System, Toronto, has committed to reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The C$114 billion ($89.1 billion) pension fund will set interim goals every five years, it announced in a Nov. 24 news release.
The longer-term net-zero goal follows OMERS' announcement on April 7 of its goal of reducing the carbon intensity of its portfolio by 20% by 2025.
"As investors, we play an important role in working with our portfolio companies and making capital allocation decisions during the transition to a lower carbon economy," said Satish Rai, OMERS' chief investment officer, in the news release. "We believe that integrating ESG factors into our investment approach is a more holistic way of assessing both value drivers and risk to deliver long-term, stable returns to our members."
The longer-term commitment to reaching net-zero will be reached by annually calculating and publicly disclosing OMERS' total carbon footprint in its portfolio, based on the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.
According to OMERS' most recent climate-related disclosures posted on its website, the pension fund was able to measure greenhouse gas emissions of C$80 billion of the C$109 billion held as of Dec. 31, 2019. The pension fund did not disclose specifically how much in assets was held in greenhouse gas emission-oriented investments.
An OMERS presentation on its website also notes that the pension fund is also investing in opportunities geared toward the energy transition. OMERS currently has over C$18 billion invested in green assets, it says.
