(Quebec) The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) will promote its MER at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP26, which begins in Glasgow, Scotland.
The President of the Caisse, Charles Emond, will be part of the Quebec delegation that will accompany Premier François Legault to this major international summit on the environment.
“The REM is on everyone’s lips,” commented Mr. Emond in a telephone interview with The Canadian Press broadcast on Saturday.
The Metropolitan Express Network (REM) currently under construction in the Montreal region is thus arousing curiosity and interest abroad.
“It is a business model that interests” several foreign governments, in particular because of the advantageous “risk-return linkage” it offers, suggested the big boss of the Fund.
The CDPQ is the “only institution” that does the full “integration” of the model, argued Mr. Emond, from financing to construction and operation.
He added, however, that the Fund was “not returned to export” the model. The CDPQ first wants to finalize the construction of the network’s antennas in Montreal before embarking on other projects of this kind abroad.
It should be noted that in addition, Mr. Emond will take part on Wednesday in an important panel with the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program, Inger Andersen, under the leadership of Mark Carney, the former Governor of the Bank of Canada and from the Bank of England.
Green finance
La Caisse will also contribute to the canvassing currently underway to attract the head office of a new international regulator in sustainable finance to Montreal.
The Montreal financial community is in fact looking for the International Sustainability Standards Board to be established in the city.
“I will have discussions” on this issue, suggested Mr. Emond.
Oil and natural gas
Major pension fund managers like the CPDQ are being called upon by environmental groups, among others, to withdraw from the fossil fuel industries.
The president of the Fund confirmed that his institution still holds between 3 and 4 billion investments in oil production, but retains the objective of withdrawing from this sector by the end of next year.
As for natural gas, the CDPQ considers it to be a transitional energy towards carbon neutrality – “cleaner, safer energy”, underlined Mr. Emond.
The Caisse has total investments of 9 billion in the field of natural gas.
“We have to keep natural gas,” concluded Mr. Emond.