The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) is the 100% owner of Heritage Royalty, a private company that holds royalty rights for approximately 4 million acres of oil and gas producing lands. As the climate crisis accelerates and jeopardizes the retirement security of thousands of Ontario teachers, their families and their students, OTPP members deserve answers from their pension managers about the role this investment has played in increasing oil and gas production and pumping carbon pollution into the atmosphere—and the associated risks Heritage Royalty raises for the pension fund.

In deciding whether or not to support a shareholder proposal calling for full disclosure of Enbridge’s scope 3 emissions on May 8th, Canada’s largest pension funds need look no further than their own policies, reports or membership in Climate Engagement Canada.

On May 8th, 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. Shareholders will be voting on a proposal asking the company to “annually disclose all of its scope 3 emissions using accepted definitions and in absolute terms.”

For Canada’s pension sector, voting for the scope 3 emissions proposal at Enbridge’s AGM should be a no-brainer.

At a time when the OTPP has made ambitious goals to align its investment strategy with addressing the climate crisis, it is bizarre that newly-chosen Directors appear to lack the required climate expertise needed to implement the OTPP’s net-zero commitment.

The OTPP continues to demonstrate national leadership in aligning the retirement savings of its members with a safe climate future. But despite its increasingly sophisticated strategy to manage climate-related financial risks, the OTPP is silent on how its massive oil, gas, pipeline and and related infrastructure investments have a credible, science-based pathway pathway to decarbonization.

The OTPP reduced portfolio emissions intensity by 32% and absolute emissions by 13% between 2019 and 2021. But the $242 billion pension fund continues to have significant problems with transparency and credibility when it comes to reconciling its climate commitments with its investments in high-risk fossil fuels.

Despite its net-zero commitment, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is reportedly considering a US$2 billion investment in Adani Enterprises, a giant Indian conglomerate with new coal mines and power stations planned and under construction.