{"id":243753,"date":"2025-10-27T15:58:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T15:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/243753\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T15:58:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T15:58:07","slug":"canadas-largest-pension-investment-manager-sued-ecojustice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/243753\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s largest pension investment manager sued – Ecojustice"},"content":{"rendered":"

See French version of press release here<\/a><\/p>\n

Toronto, Ont.\/ Traditional territories of several First Nations including the Williams Treaties First Nations, Huron-Wendat, the Anishnaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Chippewas, and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation \u2014 Four young people in Canada are taking the sixth largest pension fund manager in the world<\/a> to court, claiming it is breaching its duty to invest in their best interests by failing to protect their pensions from climate risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Represented by lawyers from Ecojustice and Goldblatt Partners LLP, Aliya Hirji, Travis Olson, Rav Singh, and Chloe Tse, allege that the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board<\/a> (CPP Investments) is breaching its legal duties by subjecting pension contributions to undue risk of loss from poorly managed climate risk.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The case argues that CPP Investments\u2019 reported climate modelling drastically underestimates the financial risks of climate change to the Canada Pension Plan. This marks the first time a Canadian investor has been sued for mismanaging climate risks. Globally, it is the first climate case against a pension fund investment manager anchored in the duty of impartiality and even-handedness in a multi-generational context \u2014 in other words, the duty to act fairly towards young contributors who will retire after 2050 when climate-related financial risks will be even greater.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The case alleges that by severely underestimating and failing to disclose climate-related financial risks, CPP Investments could expose Canadians planning to retire after 2050 to dramatically reduced retirement benefits, the need for substantially higher contribution rates, or both. Despite the legal duty to invest in contributors\u2019 best interests, CPP Investments is failing to adequately consider what retirement will look like for Canadians if the world fails to phase out fossil fuels and avert dangerous climate impacts, the case argues. It underscores the problematic use of \u201cblack box\u201d models in the financial sector, which often trivialize damages, provide inaccurate predictions, and create a dangerous sense of security in the face of catastrophic climate change.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following the pension fund\u2019s backtracking on its net-zero commitment earlier this year<\/a>, the filing also alleges that CPP Investments currently lacks adequate measures to manage climate-related financial risks, all while continuing to invest Canadians\u2019 pension contributions in fossil fuels that worsen climate change. In particular, the applicants argue that CPP Investments has failed to address the systemic risks that climate change poses to the broader financial and economic systems, while investing Canada Pension Plan funds in companies and assets whose financial performance depends on the expanded and prolonged use of fossil fuels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Canada Pension Plan contributions are mandatory for most working Canadians outside Quebec between the ages of 18 and 64. As Canada\u2019s largest pension investment manager, CPP Investments currently manages the retirement funds \u2014 with nearly $732 billion in assets under management \u2014 of more than 22 million Canadians.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Legal and pension experts and the applicants said the following:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Canada Pension Plan is the cornerstone of Canada\u2019s social safety net, meant to ensure the retirement security of current and future generations of Canadians. Our clients are concerned and allege that CPP Investments is undermining the very retirement security of the young Canadians it is mandated to protect due to its poor management of climate risks. We hope the court\u2019s eventual decision will provide guidance to CPP Investments and other Canadian pension funds about what they need to do to protect Canadians\u2019 long-term best interests.\u201d Simon Archer, Partner, Goldblatt Partners LLP\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout action to curb fossil fuels, we are on track for a 3\u00b0C warming by the end of this century. Economists warn that it would be like experiencing the Great Depression forever, yet CPP Investments reports only a 4% net present value loss in a \u2018hot house world\u2019. The case alleges that by recklessly downplaying one of the greatest threats to the pensions\u2019 long-term value, CPP Investments is effectively flying blind to the real risks of climate change and failing to protect the pensions of young Canadians who will retire after 2050.\u201d Karine Peloffy, lawyer and Sustainable Finance Lead at Ecojustice\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur case is alleging that CPP Investments is mismanaging our pension fund by failing to adequately respond to climate change. CPP is supposed to be one of our most reliable sources of retirement income. We should all be concerned that our CPP benefits may not be as dependable as we\u2019d like to think.\u201d Rav Singh, applicant, Ontario\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m part of this case because I want to protect the\u202ffinancial interests\u202fof hardworking young people like me who want to be able to retire when we are older. If CPP Investments won\u2019t step up and do the right thing when it comes to accounting for climate risks and protecting our financial contributions and benefits, then it\u2019s the court\u2019s duty to step in. My financial future is on the line.\u201d Travis Olson, applicant, Alberta\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCanadians from coast to coast are dying in fossil-fueled heatwaves and wildfires. Thousands of people are fleeing their homes and losing their livelihoods.\u00a0 Entire towns are burning to the ground. Still, CPP Investments is investing billions of dollars in fossil fuel expansion. I\u2019m concerned that CPP needs to be sustainable for the next 75 years and more, but it is using my pension contributions to fund the climate crisis, then telling me I should be confident in the future of the fund. A basic understanding of climate science and economics dispels CPP Investments\u2019 claims that investing in fossil fuel expansion is compatible with sustainability, an adequate standard of living, and a functioning economy. Our pension managers are betting against our future. We deserve better, we expect better, and other financial actors should take note.\u201d Aliya Hirji, applicant, British Columbia\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor over six years, Shift has worked with thousands of Canadians to call on their pension managers to take the escalating financial risks of climate change seriously. CPP Investments has largely ignored those warnings, continuing to invest billions of dollars in coal, oil, gas and pipelines that lock us into a dangerous future. The science is crystal clear that fossil fuels cannot expand and must be phased out to avoid catastrophic climate change, but CPP investments managers continue to put their heads in the sand. CPP Investments most basic duty to invest in our best interest requires them to invest in a stable climate.\u201d\u00a0Adam Scott, Executive Director at Shift: Action for Pension Wealth & Planet Health (see Shift\u2019s analysis of CPP Investment\u2019s approach to climate risk<\/a>)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Background\u00a0<\/p>\n

A media backgrounder is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

About\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ecojustice uses the power of the law to combat climate change, defend nature, and fight for a healthy environment. Its strategic, public interest lawsuits and advocacy lead to precedent-setting court decisions, law and policy that deliver lasting solutions to Canada\u2019s most urgent environmental problems. As Canada\u2019s largest environmental law charity, Ecojustice operates offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"See French version of press release here Toronto, Ont.\/ Traditional territories of several First Nations including the Williams…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[45,49,48,133,131,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-243753","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}