The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board made a.million-dollar investment in an Indonesian coal mine while saying it wants to “slow the pace of global warming.” The Liberal government has promised to withdraw all federal investments in coal, oil and natural gas..“Our approach to climate change is aligned with efforts to slow the pace of global warming,” the Pension Plan Investment Board wrote in a submission to the Senate banking committee, according to Blacklock’s Reporter..“As the global economy moves toward net-zero, it is our goal to capture the opportunities and manage the risks that will present themselves as society works to reduce and remove greenhouse gases from the real economy.”.The Board, in its last Equity Holdings report, disclosed it held $1 million-worth of shares in Adaro Energy, an Indonesian coal mine. It also held $1 million in stock at China Coal Energy Co..“CPP Investments believes that climate change remains one of the largest and most important investment considerations of our time,” wrote the Board. “Specifically addressing its impacts in our investment activities better positions us to make more informed long-term decisions.”.Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault last November 5 told a United Nations Climate Change Conference that the government would withdraw all federal investments in fossil fuel projects abroad..“I have every confidence in Canada’s ability to blaze a trail,” Guilbeault.said. “This means quickly winding down public international investments in unabated fossil fuels and powering up the shift to clean sources of energy.”.The CPP Investment Board identified a billion dollars in fossil fuel investments abroad. Stock holdings included $2 million in Kinder Morgan Inc., former owner of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, and other Texas oil and gas companies, Diamondback Energy Inc. ($2 million), EOG Resources Inc. ($6 million), and CenterPoint Energy Inc. ($22 million)..The Board bought $3 million in Chevron Corporation shares and $162 million in Duke Energy Corporation, a North Carolina natural gas distributor. Other buys included $792 million in China Gas Holdings Ltd..“We are thinking about climate change,” Mark Machin, then CEO of the CPP Board, testified at 2020 hearings of the House of Commons finance committee. “We have committed to being a leader.”.“Every single major investment we make must take into account climate change risks and make sure we understand those risks,” said Machin. “What might happen to the company?”.Machin on February 25, 2021 abruptly quit his $5.9 million-a-year job following disclosures he defied a travel ban to fly to the United Arab Emirates for a COVID shot..Matthew Horwood is the Parliamentary Bureau Chief of the Western Standard.mhorwood@westernstandard.news.Twitter.com/@Matt_HorwoodWS
