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ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) is on divestment watch by some of Europe’s biggest pension funds, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, after using proceeds from a recent debt financing to help obtain full control of the Surmont oil sands field in Alberta.
Aegon of the Netherlands, which manages more than $300B, said ConocoPhillips (COP) might be in breach of its tar sands policy and may be added to its exclusion list later this year, and KLP, Norway’s biggest pension fund with ~$90B in assets, also said it is monitoring the company after the Surmont deal.
The acquisition lifts Conoco’s (COP) revenue from oil sands to ~6.9% of next year’s total, up from 3.6% in 2021, which would breach the 5% limit some investors have placed on the revenue that can come from oil sands.
KLP, which holds ~$35M in Conoco (COP) shares, voted against the company’s board at this year’s annual general meeting, said it is concerned the company does not have “credible” policies mapping out how it will transition away from fossil fuels.
The irony is that some ESG investors helped finance Conoco’s (COP) Surmont acquisition, according to the Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute, including BlackRock, which is among the providers of ESG-labeled ETFs that apply the 5% oil sands exclusion threshold.
