CPP Investments scraps 2050 net zero target

Canada’s CPP Investments, one of the world’s largest institutional investors, has abandoned its commitment to achieve net zero across its operations and portfolio by 2050 – a move  slammed as an “unacceptable abdication of responsibility”.

The Canadian pension fund removed all mentions of its net zero commitment (first announced in 2022) from its 2025 annual report, but only revealed the decision in the FAQ of its ‘Approach to sustainability’ webpage. 

“Forcing alignment with rigid milestones could lead to investment decisions that are misaligned with our investment strategy. To avoid that risk – and to remain focused on delivering results, not managing legal uncertainty – we have made a considered decision to no longer maintain a net-zero by 2050 commitment,” the website now says.

The FAQ also refers to “recent legal developments in Canada” that have introduced new considerations around “how net zero commitments are interpreted”. This is likely a reference to the revision of the Competition Act, which prohibits unbacked environmental claims and was also cited as the reason why Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) recently dropped its sustainable finance goal.

‘Abandoned commitment’

CEO John Graham is quoted by Canadian media as saying that the legal changes have “caused us to change a little bit how we talk about it, but nothing's changed on what we're actually doing”.

But this explanation did nothing to appease the outrage of NGO Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health, which called out CPP Investments for “an unacceptable abdication of responsibility from the people responsible for managing the collective retirement savings of more than 22 million Canadians”.

CPP Investment manages more than C$700 billion in assets, and the “vague mention of ‘recent legal development’ is no justification for backing out of its commitment, Shift says. On the contrary, the NGO adds that “this could be a tacit admission that CPPIB was aware that its statements on net zero weren't in line with internationally recognised standards”.