- BMO ranked top major bank in Canada
- Reflects commitment to sustainable future and carbon
neutrality
TORONTO, June 25, 2020 /CNW/ - BMO Financial Group
(TSX:BMO) (NYSE:BMO) has been named to the top ten of Corporate
Knights' 2020 Canada's Best 50 Corporate Citizens list.
Ranked first among the major banks and ninth overall, BMO was
recognized for its sizable portfolio of sustainable loans, as well
as its enterprise-wide commitment to creating a sustainable future
throughout its operations. BMO scored highly compared to peers on
Clean Revenue which measures a company's revenue from all goods and
services that have clear environmental benefits.
"Being among the top ten corporate citizens is a great honour
and a reflection of BMO's commitment to building a sustainable
future," said Dan Barclay, CEO and
Group Head, BMO Capital Markets. "We are bringing our Purpose to
life through the $250 million BMO
Impact Investment Fund, which provides seed capital to find and
scale solutions to sustainability. We also continue to mobilize
investments and capital in support of companies and clients
pursuing sustainable outcomes, with a goal of $400 billion by 2025."
"We're committed to driving positive change for our customers,
employees and communities," said Simon
Fish, General Counsel for BMO Financial Group and Chair of
BMO's Sustainability Council. "This year's top ten ranking
underlines the bank's longstanding commitment to sustainability,
which we recently reaffirmed by becoming the only bank in
Canada to sign the Operating
Principles for Impact Management led by the World Bank's
International Finance Corporation."
The Best 50 Corporate Citizens ranking sets the standard for
sustainability leadership in Canada. Honorees are selected from a pool of
273 Canadian companies with revenues over $1 billion.
Each is evaluated on a set of up to 21 environmental, social and
governance indicators, relative to their industry peers and using
publicly available information.
BMO was particularly recognized for its enterprise-wide
commitment to creating a sustainable future through sustainable
finance, including by committing to mobilize $400 billion for sustainable finance by 2025.
Operationally, BMO has been carbon neutral since 2010, and the bank
recently announced a 2020 goal to match 100 per cent of
its electricity usage with electricity produced from renewable
sources across global operations.
BMO Financial Group's commitment to creating a sustainable
future also includes:
- Maintaining carbon neutrality for its operational emissions,
including business travel, since 2010
- First bank in Canada to
provide a Sustainability Linked Loan
- Establishing a Sustainable Bond Program
- Published the Sustainable Financing Framework that defines
eligible assets across seven green and four social project
categories that link to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development
- Participating in US$9.4 billion
in sustainable bond underwriting, $7.9
billion of renewable energy debt and equity, and providing
$4.2 billion of loan commitments to
renewable energy entities and projects
- Only bank to have book-run all five of World Bank's sustainable
development bonds, helping to provide over $5.5 billion in financing for initiatives aligned
with the UN SDGs
- Donating $67.3 million to
registered charities and non-profit organizations in Canada and the
United States
- Enhancing our disclosure on climate-related risks and
opportunities in line with the Taskforce on Climate-related
Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
- Adding new disclosure in line with the Sustainability
Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards
- 2020 signing of the International Finance Group (World Bank)
led Operating Principles for Impact Management
BMO's leadership on sustainability has been recognized on
numerous rankings, including:
- Corporate Knights 2020 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations
in the World
- Corporate Knights 2019 Best 50 Corporate Citizens in
Canada
- Ethisphere® Institute's list of the 2019 World's Most Ethical
Companies®
- Dow Jones Sustainability Index, North
America (2019) for the 15th year in a row
For more information on BMO's commitment to a sustainable
future, please visit the 2019 Sustainability Report.
About BMO Financial Group
Serving customers for 200 years and counting, BMO is a highly
diversified financial services provider - the 8th largest bank, by
assets, in North America. With total assets of $987
billion as of April 30, 2020, and a team of diverse and
highly engaged employees, BMO provides a broad range of personal
and commercial banking, wealth management and investment banking
products and services to more than 12 million customers and
conducts business through three operating groups: Personal and
Commercial Banking, BMO Wealth Management and BMO Capital
Markets.
SOURCE BMO Financial Group