BMO Celebrates Earth Day with Trees from Trades

• BMO Capital Markets' Trees from Trades day will see a portion of Earth Day trading fees donated to plant thousands of trees

TORONTO, April 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - BMO Financial Group (TSX:BMO) (NYSE:BMO) is celebrating Earth Day with the second annual Capital Markets "Trees from Trades" day. Trees from Trades day is an innovative approach to fundraising, similar to BMO's annual Equity through Education day, which raises funds through a percentage of institutional equity commissions on one day each autumn. Today, BMO Capital Markets will donate a portion of Global Markets revenue from trades to fund the planting of thousands of trees for Earth Day.

"As part of our Purpose to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life, we are committed to a more sustainable future," said Levent Kahraman, Co-Head Global Markets, BMO Capital Markets. "The Trees from Trades program, now in its second year, rallies BMO Capital Markets around a common goal -- funding a greener world through tree planting."

"Planting trees shows how we can use nature-based solutions to reduce the impact of greenhouse gas emissions, through afforestation and preserving local ecosystems," said Michael Torrance, Chief Sustainability Officer, BMO Financial Group. "The trees we plant as a result of Trees from Trades, and preservation of global biodiversity more broadly, will help to combat climate change by reducing carbon emissions – which will be essential for achieving the transition to a net zero world."

Tree planting will be carried out in partnership with organizations like the Mastercard Priceless Planet Coalition, Veritree and Tree Canada. In 2020, BMO was the first Canadian bank to join the Mastercard Priceless Planet Coalition which is committed to planting 100 million trees in five years. Veritree is a platform that provides on-the-ground transparency to global reforestation efforts. Tree Canada is a national non-profit organization dedicated to planting and nurturing trees in rural and urban environments, in every province across the country. 

BMO is a recognized sustainability leader

Carbon neutral in its own operations since 2010, BMO announced its Climate Ambition in March 2021 with a commitment to deploy $300 billion in sustainable lending and underwriting to companies pursuing sustainable outcomes by 2025.  BMO is focused on being its clients' lead partner in their transition to a net zero world and, since December 2019, has completed green and sustainability-linked loans for companies in a range of sectors, with targets including decarbonization, diversity & inclusion, and health and safety. To support clients' pursuit of opportunities driven by the increasing momentum of the global economy's shift in production and consumption of energy, in 2021 BMO established a dedicated Energy Transition Group and the BMO Climate Institute.

BMO's leadership on sustainability has been recognized on a number of rankings, including the Wall Street Journal's 100 Most Sustainably Managed Companies in the World, Corporate Knights' Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations, Dow Jones Sustainability Indices World Index, and Ethisphere Institute's list of the World's Most Ethical Companies.

For more information on BMO's commitment to a sustainable future, please visit the bank's latest Sustainability Report. To learn more about sustainable finance at BMO click here. For BMO's climate ambition, visit its Climate page.

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 $1.02 trillion as of January 31, 2022, 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