While some encouraging elements are included, OPTrust’s Climate Strategy update and 2022-2023 TCFD report demonstrate a process-heavy approach that has resulted in few hard climate targets and no progress toward excluding new investments in fossil fuels, thus demonstrating that the fund is still struggling to align its $25-billion portfolio with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Shift welcomes OPTrust’s commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050 and the pension fund’s recognition of the urgency of the climate crisis, which OPTrust calls “an immediate threat to [its] portfolio that it cannot afford to ignore.” However, OPTrust’s Climate Change Strategy continues to fall well short of a credible climate plan, lacking core elements such as interim targets to reduce emissions and clear goals and expectations for climate engagement of owned companies.