Canada's two largest pension funds are taking radically different approaches when it comes to sustainable investing. This yawning gap between the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is at least partly explained by fossil fuel linked board directors at the former polluting its outlook, experts say.

Mere weeks after the CPPIB [Canada Pension Plan Investment Board] walked back its net-zero target, the country’s next-largest public pension fund, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), published its climate action plan and related transition financing framework which doubled down on climate action — effectively blowing a hole through the rationale the CPPIB put forward.