Statement from Shift on the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan's acquisition of a 69.4 per cent stake in an Italian fossil gas pipeline network

JANUARY 4, 2021

STATEMENT FROM SHIFT ON THE ONTARIO TEACHERS’ PENSION PLAN’S ACQUISITION OF A 69.4 PER CENT STAKE IN AN ITALIAN FOSSIL GAS PIPELINE NETWORK

Toronto, ON - On Christmas Eve, working and retired teachers across Ontario were treated to yet another fossil gas pipeline network on behalf of their pension fund. The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) quietly revealed that it’s buying a 69.4% stake in Società Gasdotti Italia S.p.A, the owner and operator of a 1,700-km network of fossil gas pipelines in Italy. OTPP did not disclose how much of teachers’ pension savings are being used to buy this giant piece of fossil fuel infrastructure.

Anticipating growing concerns from teachers about climate-related financial risk, OTPP tried to claim that its Italian gas pipelines will somehow “enable the shift to low- or zero-carbon alternatives like green hydrogen and biomethane to support broad decarbonisation efforts in Italy and Europe.” OTPP’s press release cites an incomplete, unpublished feasibility study relying on unproven assertions that gas pipeline networks can somehow be switched to hydrogen and decarbonized. In fact, numerous technical studies show that only a small percentage of hydrogen could ever safely be blended into existing gas pipelines, making gas pipeline networks ultimately dead-end investments as we transition entirely away from fossil fuels to stabilize our climate. Climate science shows we must phase out gas combustion entirely in the coming years, so high-carbon assets of this kind will either become stranded, or will block our path to climate safety. Either way, it’s a risky strategy for long-term investors like pension funds.        

Attempts to portray investments in gas infrastructure as a climate solution are a new and deceptive form of climate denial. OTPP says that it understands the climate crisis, yet continues to invest teachers’ retirement savings in infrastructure and companies that are not aligned with what the science says is required to secure a safe climate future. Instead of listening to teachers and immediately excluding new investments in fossil fuels and phasing out current investments, OTPP is doubling down on climate-heating gas while making unjustified claims that it’s part of a decarbonization strategy.