CALGARY — The CEO of the Alberta Investment Management Corp. (AIMCo) says divesting from fossil fuels is the opposite approach pension funds should be taking if they want to help solve the climate crisis.
Evan Siddall says AIMCo wants to be a leader in financing the transition to a low-carbon economy, but it won't do that by divesting from fossil fuels as some global pension funds have done.
Instead, Siddall says AIMCo will be exploring opportunities to invest in oil and gas companies and other heavy industrial emitters.
He says heavy-emitting companies are developing plans to lower, though not eliminate, their greenhouse gas footprints and will need capital to implement those plans.
Siddall says investing in the oil and gas sector's decarbonization efforts will help Canada achieve its climate targets and generate strong returns for investors.
AIMCo is one of Canada's largest institutional investment managers, responsible for the investments of pension, endowment and government funds in Alberta. As of Dec. 31, 2021, it had $168.3 billion of assets under management.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2022.
Comments
Sure glad my pension is not being managed by these people.
Evan Siddall says AIMCo wants to be a leader in financing the transition to a low-carbon economy, but it won't do that by divesting from fossil fuels as some global pension funds have done. He says heavy-emitting companies are developing plans to lower, though not eliminate, their greenhouse gas footprints and will need capital to implement those plans.
Need capital to implement those plans? Here we go again, keep feeding the sus scrofas with our tax dollars to ensure they make profits. New documents are “the latest evidence that oil giants keep lying about their commitments to help solve the climate crisis and should never be trusted by policymakers,” said Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity.“If there is one thing consistent about the oil and gas majors’ position on climate, it’s their utter inability to tell the truth,” The Guardian revealed in July that the oil and gas sector has made an average of $1 trillion a year in pure profit for the last 50 years. These vast sums have provided the power to “buy every politician, every system” and delay action on the climate crisis, said Prof. Aviel Verbruggen, the author of that analysis.
Amazing ignorance and arrogance from these dirty energy promoters and funders.