Steve MacLellan

Buying a 65% stake in the C$6.6-billion Coastal GasLink pipeline in northeastern British Columbia was the wrong way to invest Alberta’s public pension fund, Adam Scott and Patrick DeRochie of Shift: Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health argue in an op ed last week for the Edmonton Journal.

The “late Christmas gift”, announced December 26 by the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), “is likely to be a liability due to the financial, regulatory, reputational, and legal risks involved with the purchase,” Scott and DeRochie write.

And pension funds are aware of the threat.

“Many pension funds, including AIMCo, publicly recognize the financial risks of climate change and claim to screen their investments for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors,” Scott and DeRochie state. And “if ever there was a project that failed a credible ESG screen, it’s CGL,” based on its environmental risks as well as its failure to respect Indigenous rights.