Ask OMERS to make a public commitment to phase out fossil fuel investments by 2025 at the latest

Information and References

OMERS Assets Under Management: 

$127.4 billion (June 30, 2023)

OMERS investments in fossil fuels include:

  • $795 million invested in tar sands, oil, gas and pipeline companies such as Canadian Natural Resources, Chevron, Fortis and TC Energy (as reported in regulatory filings to June 30, 2023).

  • A 50% ownership stake in NET4GAS, which operates more than 3,800 km of fossil gas pipelines in the Czech Republic.

  • A 50% ownership stake (purchased for USD$1.44 billion in 2018) in BridgeTex, a Texas-based pipeline company that transports 440,000 barrels per day of crude oil.

  • A 23.9% stake in Puget Sound Energy, an electric and gas utility in Washington state. Puget Sound Energy has set climate targets, yet as of 2020 23% of its electricity mix came from coal and 27% from gas-fired plants.

Calls for OMERS to phase out its fossil fuel investments:

OMERS sales of fossil fuel assets:

OMERS statements on risks posed by climate change:

  • OMERS’ 2021 Climate-Related Financial Disclosures state: “Climate change presents both physical and transition risks to OMERS investment portfolio. Physical risks include the risk of loss due to extreme weather events or longer-term shifts in climate patterns… Transition risks include changes in policies and legal, technology, markets, and reputation, which may increase the costs of certain assets (e.g., carbon pricing) or their marketability (e.g., stranded assets). These changes may impact the value of our investments.”

  • OMERS’ Proxy Voting Guidelines state: “As a global investor, the financial returns of our portfolio are exposed to the wide range of physical, regulatory and liability risks that climate change presents.”

International calls to end investments in fossil fuels:

  • The International Energy Agency found in 2021 that the narrow pathway to net-zero by 2050 required no investment in new fossil fuel supply, effective immediately.

  • The Glasgow Alliance for Net Zero has provided in 2022 preliminary guidance on managed phaseout for high emitting assets. 

  • In April 2022, at the launch of the third Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, “We are on a pathway to global warming of more than double the 1.5°C limit agreed in Paris… Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness.  Such investments will soon be stranded assets — a blot on the landscape and a blight on investment portfolios… First and foremost, we must triple the speed of the shift to renewable energy.  That means moving investments and subsidies from fossil fuels to renewables — now.” 

Examples of other pension funds phasing out fossil fuel investments

As of August 2022, more than 1,500 institutions managing a collective USD$40 trillion, including nearly 200 pension funds, have fully or partly divested from fossil fuels.

  • Quebec’s public pension manager, the $392 billion Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), has publicly committed to exit all investments in oil producers and pipelines by the end of this year, saying, “We believe that the risk/return outlook for oil producers and their climate impact are not aligned with our long-term objectives… These assets will be sold in an orderly fashion with the goal of protecting returns for our depositors and building a more sustainable portfolio.”

  • The US $272 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund has been undertaking a systematic review of its fossil fuel assets, and publicly sharing its decisions to divest from companies that fail to demonstrate a credible transition plan. New York State’s Comptroller cited the "significant and complex economic, environmental and regulatory challenges [oil and gas companies face] in the years to come." 

  • The UK’s £20 billion government-backed National Employee Savings Trust (NEST) sold its holdings in five energy companies after a three year engagement programme did not yield results. “[These companies] will not return to our portfolio until they demonstrate clear progress in preparing for a low-carbon economy,” said Katharina Lindmeier, NEST’s senior responsible investment manager. 

  • NGS Super, a AUS$13 billion education sector fund, sold off a chunk of its oil and gas investments in 2022, with its Chief Investment Officer saying “When you’re talking about a pure oil and gas company, where its operations are directly associated with the extraction of carbon, it’s a bit of a futile argument to suggest that they’re going to become a renewable energy company.”

  • The $11.8 billion University Pension Plan Ontario has placed an exclusion on investment in entities that generate revenue from thermal coal, although the threshold for exclusion is not strict enough.

Send a letter today asking OMERS to make a public commitment to phase out its investments in oil, gas, coal and pipelines by 2025.