Canadian pension funds insist on staying invested in fossil fuel companies, claiming that they can help them decarbonize and adapt to a zero-carbon future. As companies whose fundamental business model depends on extracting, refining, transporting and burning fossil fuels, Suncor and Enbridge do not have credible or profitable pathways to decarbonisation other than phase-out or early retirement of their oil and gas assets. But any pension fund that claims to take climate engagement seriously should at minimum be demanding that these companies produce an honest accounting of their emissions and their spending plans to cut pollution.
As the climate crisis worsens with every barrel of oil extracted by Suncor and fed into Enbridge’s pipelines, it’s time for pension funds to put the pressure on these climate laggards. Fossil fuel companies like Suncor and Enbridge have to listen to their investors– and your pension fund is a major shareholder.
Tell your pension fund to vote for Enbridge to disclose all of its scope 3 emissions and for Suncor to disclose how its spending plans are aligned with its climate targets.
Tell your pension fund to vote for climate transparency from Suncor and Enbridge
(Need more info before you take action? Click here.)
Will your pension live up to its promises to engage on climate?
On May 3rd, Enbridge is holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM)-- where the shareholders and executives of Canada’s largest fossil fuel pipeline company will gather to make key decisions about the coming year. Canada’s big public pension plans own over $1.2 billion in shares in Enbridge. The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan’s (OTPP) Vice Chair, Investments, sits on Enbridge’s board, giving an OTPP executive key insight into the company’s governance and business plan.
And on May 9th, Suncor Energy– one of Canada’s largest tar sands producers– is holding its AGM. Canadian pension funds hold over $560 million in Suncor shares. A Director of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), sits on the board of Suncor.
This year’s Enbridge and Suncor AGMs are a clear opportunity for our pension funds to deliver on their promise to engage companies to explain how their business models and spending plans are aligned with a safe climate– which is necessary to protect our retirement security.
Investors are asking Enbridge to annually disclose its scope 3 emissions (including the emissions from burning the oil and gas transported by Enbridge pipelines) using internationally-accepted definitions. Currently the company uses an incomplete definition of its scope 3 emissions that masks their scale and their growth given Enbridge is expanding fossil fuel infrastructure.
Investors are also asking Suncor for greater disclosure regarding its commitment to devote 10 percent of its capital expenditures to investments that advance its low-carbon offerings. No rationale has been provided for this number, nor details on how it will be spent and how it adds up to meeting the company’s net zero target.
Enbridge and Suncor are two of Canada’s biggest polluters and talk a lot about their commitments to net-zero. But their record of expanding fossil fuel infrastructure and lobbying against climate action tells a very different story. That’s why Enbridge and Suncor shareholders are demanding more information from these companies to cut through their greenwashing at this year’s AGMs.
We need Canadian pension funds to join them. Pension funds must ensure companies they own are working to solve the climate crisis, not making it worse. Enbridge’s and Suncor’s inadequate emissions disclosure and fossil fuel expansion plans are undermining the urgent action required to avoid catastrophic climate change, putting our collective future and our pension savings at risk.
Our pension funds claim to care about investing our retirement savings in a safe climate future. They claim that their ownership of shares in companies like Enbridge and Suncor enables them to manage climate risks, reduce carbon emissions, and improve corporate behaviour. And they claim to use voting at AGMs as a way to encourage companies to take action on the climate crisis.
The Enbridge AGM on May 3rd and Suncor AGM on May 9th are the ideal opportunity for our pension funds to put the pressure on.
Tell your pension fund managers to vote for climate transparency at this spring’s company AGMs.
Want to learn more? Read our briefing on key climate-related shareholder resolutions at Enbridge and Suncor.