The head of Alberta Investment Management Corp. (AIMCo) said he wants to play a key role in what could be a multitrillion-dollar effort to lower the energy sector’s carbon footprint. And that was a primary motivation for the provincial asset manager’s decision to finally have an office in Calgary, which opened Wednesday.

The move allows AIMCo, which oversees more than $168 billion of assets, to expand its footprint in Alberta as it looks to be more involved in the region's green energy transition. As of June, its client portfolios held nearly $7 billion in investments across the province, according to a press release. 

“People estimate the amount of money needed at something like two, three, four, five trillion dollars per year of investment. And for long-term investors, it’s a great opportunity for us because those investors who are much more short-term oriented or need higher returns are going to have a hard time financing that, so it’s actually ideally suited for us,” Evan Siddall, the chief executive officer of AIMCo, said in an interview.

He stressed the Calgary office will provide AIMCo with a better chance to explore opportunities that exist in the oil and gas sector — in particular the transition to a low-carbon economy.

“Calgary is the financial center of Alberta and we should have been here a long time ago,” he said.