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BC Public Sector Pensions: Time to Quit Big Tobacco
BetterPensionsBC P.
started this petition to
Board of Directors, BC Investment Management Corporation (BCI)
Through the
BC Investment Management Corporation (BCI),
British Columbia's Public Sector Pension Plans have over $100 million*
invested in some of the world's biggest tobacco companies,
including:
At different times in recent years, BCI has also owned shares in several others (e.g. British American Tobacco, Eastern Tobacco, Imperial Brands, Japan Tobacco International**, and KT&G), some as recently as 2023.
* This list is not exhaustive. $ amounts as of December 31, 2023, per BCI Investment Inventory.
** Designated by Ukraine as International Sponsors of War because they continue to do big business in Russia.
These companies sell cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and related products all over the world. Why would BCI invest in them?
We know smoking kills millions around the world every year, including family and friends of pension plan members.
We know investing in tobacco companies is bad public policy - it undermines efforts to improve public health and reduce healthcare costs in BC and elsewhere.
We know that Canada is a party to a UN treaty - the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control - which calls for divestment.
And we know that several other Canadian pension plans have already divested, and some have signed the international Tobacco-Free Finance Pledge (e.g. Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan).
Please help convince BCI to divest fully from all tobacco holdings immediately, by:
BCI claims to take ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) matters seriously, believing that owning shares gives some say in how companies behave. But realistically, tobacco companies have not and will not change their core business, regardless of how active BCI or other shareholders might be.
Divesting from tobacco companies will not hurt BCI's main goal of generating wealth for its client pension plans. These companies are just a fraction of BCI's overall portfolio (~0.03%), and should be easy to drop fast. There are many ethical and climate-friendly investment alternatives, in Canada or abroad, with better rates of return.
Extra info
BCI manages $233 billion in assets, mainly on behalf of 11 public sector pension plans, including the Public Service Pension Plan, the Municipal Pension Plan, the Teachers' Pension Plan, the College Pension Plan, the UBC and UVic staff pension plans, and the WorkSafeBC pension plan. Collectively these plans represent almost 725,000 British Columbians.
BCI's most recent investment inventory lists all its public equities investments as of December 31, 2023, including the above tobacco companies: www.bci.ca/media/reports
On March 1, 2022, after our first petition took off, BCI agreed to divest fully ($450 million) from Russian companies in response to Russia's war on Ukraine. See more on Twitter @PensionsBC
- Altria Group (formerly Philip Morris Companies): $10.87M
- ITC Limited (originally India Tobacco Company): $117.33M
- Philip Morris International: $22.17M**
At different times in recent years, BCI has also owned shares in several others (e.g. British American Tobacco, Eastern Tobacco, Imperial Brands, Japan Tobacco International**, and KT&G), some as recently as 2023.
* This list is not exhaustive. $ amounts as of December 31, 2023, per BCI Investment Inventory.
** Designated by Ukraine as International Sponsors of War because they continue to do big business in Russia.
These companies sell cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and related products all over the world. Why would BCI invest in them?
We know smoking kills millions around the world every year, including family and friends of pension plan members.
We know investing in tobacco companies is bad public policy - it undermines efforts to improve public health and reduce healthcare costs in BC and elsewhere.
We know that Canada is a party to a UN treaty - the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control - which calls for divestment.
And we know that several other Canadian pension plans have already divested, and some have signed the international Tobacco-Free Finance Pledge (e.g. Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan).
Please help convince BCI to divest fully from all tobacco holdings immediately, by:
- signing and sharing the petition with public sector pension members across BC
- telling your pension plan and BCI's Board of Directors what you think: www.bci.ca/contact
BCI claims to take ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) matters seriously, believing that owning shares gives some say in how companies behave. But realistically, tobacco companies have not and will not change their core business, regardless of how active BCI or other shareholders might be.
Divesting from tobacco companies will not hurt BCI's main goal of generating wealth for its client pension plans. These companies are just a fraction of BCI's overall portfolio (~0.03%), and should be easy to drop fast. There are many ethical and climate-friendly investment alternatives, in Canada or abroad, with better rates of return.
Extra info
BCI manages $233 billion in assets, mainly on behalf of 11 public sector pension plans, including the Public Service Pension Plan, the Municipal Pension Plan, the Teachers' Pension Plan, the College Pension Plan, the UBC and UVic staff pension plans, and the WorkSafeBC pension plan. Collectively these plans represent almost 725,000 British Columbians.
BCI's most recent investment inventory lists all its public equities investments as of December 31, 2023, including the above tobacco companies: www.bci.ca/media/reports
On March 1, 2022, after our first petition took off, BCI agreed to divest fully ($450 million) from Russian companies in response to Russia's war on Ukraine. See more on Twitter @PensionsBC
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