BMO Marks Earth Hour in 2019
On Saturday, March 30 from 8:30-9:30 p.m. local time, BMO once again joined thousands of other organizations and communities around the world to participate in Earth Hour.
Earth Hour is the world’s largest grassroots movement for the environment, inspiring millions of people to take action for our planet and nature. This global event, organized by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), encourages individuals, businesses and governments to turn off their lights and reduce energy use for an hour to raise awareness of –and urge action on – air pollution.
Each year, during Earth Hour, BMO turns off all non-essential lighting, which makes up the majority of the lights visible from outside of our buildings – including the BMOtron at our Toronto headquarters. If it’s not needed for safety or to meet building code requirements, it will be switched off!
Supporting the environment year-round
BMO is committed to minimizing the environmental impact of our operational activities and aims to be a leader amongst financial institutions in environmental sustainability. We have been carbon neutral, enterprise-wide, for eight years. And we continue to find new, creative and technology-driven ways to reduce our operational environmental footprint through both enterprise-wide and employee-led initiatives, such as:
- Achieving our first set of five-year emissions targets early and setting new five-year targets in 2017 for reducing carbon emissions, paper consumption and water usage
- Continually upgrading energy-consuming equipment and systems at various facilities in Canada and the United States, including lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), controls, roofs and windows
- Beginning or completing the process to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for a number of our locations
- Investing approximately $11.3 million in energy-related projects in 2017, which have generated annual savings of $1.13 million and reductions in emissions equivalent to 3,282 tonnes of carbon dioxide
Learn more about BMO’s ECO5 strategy, which focuses on five key operational activities that have the potential to significantly impact the environment.
(March 30, 2019)
