News Releases
TORONTO, September 23, 2008 – BMO Financial Group has been named as one of two Canadian banks in the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index for 2008.
The Index, created by the Carbon Disclosure Project, is comprised of companies based worldwide that show distinction on their reporting of greenhouse gas emissions. Index members are distinguished by the disclosure of their awareness of the risks and opportunities of climate change, as well as the quality and effectiveness of programs put in place to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions.
"BMO is proud to be recognized as a leader in the fight against climate change," said Jim Johnston, Director, Environmental Sustainability, BMO Financial Group. “Customers, investors, and employees expect companies to show leadership when it comes to achieving environmental sustainability. At BMO, we are committed to minimize the impact of our operations on the environment.
“Climate change has profound implications for our customers, shareholders, communities – and our business,” added Mr. Johnston. “Our CEO, Bill Downe, has announced that BMO will seek to achieve carbon neutrality by 2010 across our enterprise – worldwide. To help reach this goal, we intend to reduce net emissions related to energy consumption and transportation to zero within two years, and we are committed to cut our greenhouse gas emissions by 5 per cent over this period.”
BMO has been a leader in reducing its non-renewable energy consumption. All newly opened branches (up to 53, so far, in Ontario and Alberta) are powered from renewable sources of electricity (where available), such as Bullfrog Power, and BMO is actively pursuing sustainable building practices in all new construction projects.
Last year, BMO purchased 5,000 megawatt hours of electricity from renewable sources, and it expects to increase that commitment significantly over the next two years. “BMO has just contracted with Bullfrog for an additional 3,300 MWh of clean energy, raising the total to more than 8,300 MWh, making BMO the leading purchaser of electricity among financial institutions from the company,” added Mr. Johnston. “This is enough renewable energy to power nearly 100 BMO branches.”
BMO recently re-launched its Corporate Responsibility website and expanded significantly the section devoted to addressing climate change (www.bmo.com/environment). To help customers, investors, employees and other interested parties make sense of it all, the new site provides one of the most complete compilations of corporate performance data among its peers, and will allow BMO and all its stakeholders to track the company's progress toward carbon neutrality.
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