Quebec Pension Fund Earns $4B More Betting on Green Energy

Quebec's pension fund just proved that doing good for the planet can mean doing even better for your wallet. La Caisse, which manages retirement savings for six million Quebecers, earned $4 billion more from clean energy than it would have made staying in oil.

The numbers tell a powerful story. Since La Caisse launched its climate strategy, its energy investments returned 10 percent annually compared to 8 percent from a global oil index. That two-point gap added up fast.

Here's what makes this so significant: La Caisse isn't a charity or environmental group. Its legal job is to maximize money for retirees. The shift to renewables wasn't about feel-good activism. It was a financial decision that simply performed better.

The secret lies in how La Caisse invests. More than half its portfolio goes into private assets like direct stakes in companies and infrastructure projects, not publicly traded stocks. When negative headlines about clean energy hit the news, private renewable projects keep humming along based on their actual contracted revenues, not market mood swings.

La Caisse recently took Innergex, a Quebec renewable power company, private in a $10 billion deal. The fund argued the company was undervalued as a public stock and too exposed to political headlines that didn't reflect its solid fundamentals.

The approach is opening doors beyond just returns. In February 2025, La Caisse partnered with the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke to jointly invest in renewable infrastructure. The partnership ensures Indigenous communities own stakes in projects on their ancestral lands, not just host them.

"For over a century, major energy infrastructure projects have impacted the rights and lands of Indigenous peoples," said Grand Chief Cody Diabo. "We believe that now is the time for our communities to participate in the energy transition."

The Ripple Effect

What makes La Caisse's success particularly striking is the contrast with other Canadian pension funds. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board put $9.7 billion into new fossil fuel and pipeline assets between October 2024 and October 2025. In May 2025, it formally abandoned its commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

Ontario Teachers' hasn't updated its climate strategy in over three years. Other major Canadian pension funds have set no emissions targets beyond 2026.

Meanwhile, La Caisse exited thermal coal mining and oil production entirely in 2023. It still holds 1.4 percent in natural gas as a bridge fuel during the transition, though climate advocates push for a complete exit.

The gap between La Caisse's performance and other funds' inaction raises a simple question: if renewables can deliver better returns while fighting climate change, why aren't more pension funds following Quebec's lead? For millions of Canadians worried about retirement savings and the cost of living, that $4 billion difference suggests the green path might just be the smarter financial bet.