Canada’s PSP fund to double issuance of long-term inexperienced bonds By Reuters

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s Public Sector Pension Funding Board (PSP Investments) goals to greater than double the C$1 billion ($749 million) worth of sustainable bond issuance by 2026, an official on the pension fund instructed Reuters on Thursday.

The pension scheme, which manages C$230.5 billion in property, issued its first-ever inexperienced bond in February this yr as a part of its purpose to achieve net-zero emissions.

A number of different pensions together with Ontario Academics’ Pension Plan (OTPP), Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and the Canada Pension Plan Funding Board (CPPIB), have additionally issued inexperienced bonds.

Neither OTPP, CPPIB nor Caisse have set targets for inexperienced bond issuance.

“We need to steer a minimum of 10% of our long-term debt financing in direction of sustainable targets, so we’re engaged on that,” Herman Bril, head of accountable funding at PSP Investments, stated in an interview.

PSP at present invests 4.2% of its capital debt in inexperienced bonds.

PSP, Canada’s fifth-largest pension funding supervisor, additionally elevated its publicity to inexperienced property by C$6.12 billion to C$46.5 billion in 2022, it stated in a report launched on Thursday.

As giant monetary establishments come beneath strain from activist teams and regulators over their publicity to fossil gasoline property, the Canadian pension funds have been seeking to strike a stability between investor returns and exiting from carbon-generating property.

PSP has stated it’s going to reduce its publicity in greenhouse fuel (GHG) emitting property by 20-25% by 2026 as a part of its new local weather technique.

($1 = 1.3387 Canadian {dollars})