BMO kicks off Earth Month by celebrating our membership in the Priceless Planet Coalition

As a global industry leader in sustainability, BMO is dedicated to helping drive efforts to combat climate change—and partnering with organizations that share our ambition is an important part of that.

The world’s forests are a priceless resource: home to plant and animal life of all types, they are an important part of the earth’s ecosystem and biodiversity. Forests are also both vulnerable to climate change and, at the same time, a source of potential solutions to slow it down.

In October 2020, BMO was the first Canadian bank to join the Mastercard Priceless Planet Coalition, which brings together sustainability-minded organizations in a global effort to combat climate change by planting trees. The Coalition’s goal is to restore 100 million trees in the next five years, working with Conservation International and World Resources Institute (with partner One Tree Planted). Areas with the highest potential for positive impacts on climate, community and biodiversity goals are prioritized in the effort.

This month, our employees celebrate our commitment and leadership by taking action for a sustainable future, in line with our Purpose, to boldly grow the good in business and life. They’re taking on challenges to support sustainability where they live, acting as “citizen scientists” as part of crowd-sourced data collection efforts. For every employee who completes the Earth Month Challenge in the weeks leading up to Earth Day (April 22), BMO will plant a tree through the Coalition partnership.

Proud to be a global leader in sustainability

Our membership in the Coalition is just one of the ways BMO is convening for climate action with global partners this year. In February, we were among the first Canadian banks to sign the United Nations Environment Programme – Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI) Principles for Responsible Banking. This was preceded in January, when we joined the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF).

In March, we declared our climate ambition, to be our clients’ lead partner in the transition to a net zero world. To help combat climate change, we announced the launch of the BMO Climate Institute, bringing together science, analytics, expertise and partners to understand and manage the financial risks and opportunities related to climate change and transition for both clients and the bank. We also more than doubled our commitment to mobilize sustainable finance, and committed to a series of bold targets, including to reduce operational greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030 versus a 2019 baseline using science-based approaches, and our ambition to achieve net zero financed emissions in its lending by 2050.

At BMO, we are proud of the recognition we’ve received on the world stage for our efforts in sustainability—recognition means we are on the right path.  In January, BMO was named the top ranked North American bank in Corporate Knights’ Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World, and in November of 2020 we were recognizes as the top ranked North American bank in Dow Jones’ Sustainability Index , and ranked #15 – and first among global banks – in the 2020 Wall Street Journal (WSJ)World’s Most Sustainably Managed Companies.