Tell your BC public pension manager to protect your pension and the planet

Send a letter to your BC pension fund, your union, and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation leadership.

The climate crisis is here and impacting millions of Canadians. It’s bringing unprecedented floods, storms, wildfires and heatwaves, destroying critical national infrastructure and ruining the lives and livelihoods of Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

BC in particular is on the frontlines of the climate crisis, with extreme and unprecedented climate-fueled disasters ruining livelihoods and devastating communities throughout the province. BC is reeling from years of wildfires that razed entire towns to the ground, forced thousands to flee their homes, and blanketed the province in toxic smoke. The 2021 heat dome killed hundreds of people. Flooding in fall 2021 forced thousands to flee their homes, farms and businesses and destroyed critical transportation routes. 

The BC government is working to reduce carbon pollution and adapt to the worsening impacts of climate change. But at the same time, the massive pension fund manager for BC public sector employees, the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), continues to invest in the oil, gas, coal and pipeline companies fueling the climate crisis.

In a worsening climate crisis, your pension fund’s investment decisions matter. BCI manages $233 billion of retirement savings and other public funds on behalf of working and retired British Columbians. Its investments can have a huge impact on how quickly Canada and the world can transition to a zero-emissions economy while continuing to grow your pension savings in a warming world. The investment decisions of fund managers like BCI influence whether companies build electric cars and solar panels, or gas plants and pipelines.

BCI developed its first Climate Action Plan in 2018, has deployed a range of tools and processes to better understand how climate change is affecting its investment portfolios, and has begun to recognize the opportunity of investing in renewable energy and other climate solutions. But BCI must do much more. Many leading pension funds have established targets for investments in climate solutions, set goals to cut carbon pollution across their portfolio, and ceased investments in fossil fuels.

The pension manager for BC’s public sector must align with national and provincial climate targets and invest in a safe climate future for workers and communities across the province.

Tell BCI to protect your pension and the planet.