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Earth day 2021 – BMO turns trades into trees

April 22, 2021 | Sustainability

This year, BMO is celebrating earth day by kicking off the inaugural Capital Markets “Trees from Trades” initiative — donating a portion of the day’s global fixed-income trading proceeds to plant thousands of trees.

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. On earth day, BMO Capital Markets has committed to planting trees for fixed income securities traded around the world, including 10 trees for every $1 million of ESG bonds traded (bonds with proceeds raised specifically for Environmental, Social and Governance uses or with pricing linked to progress on sustainability goals.)

“At BMO we are proud to be Growing the Good in business and in life, and to take every opportunity to help build a more sustainable world,” said Deland Kamanga, Head, BMO Global Markets. “Our new Trees from Trades program will see BMO Capital Markets Fixed Income Currencies and Commodities group help fund tree planting for a greener planet.”

“Planting trees is a nature-based solution to reducing the impact of greenhouse gas emissions that also helps create jobs, reforest lands and recharge local ecosystems,” said Michael Torrance, BMO Chief Sustainability Officer. “The trees we plant as a result of Trees from Trades and other critical partnerships further our ongoing commitment to combat climate change by reducing carbon emissions and working toward a net zero carbon footprint.” Tree planting will be carried out in partnership with the Priceless Planet Coalition and Veritree. In 2020, BMO was the first Canadian bank to join the Mastercard Priceless Planet Coalition which was created by Mastercard to unite businesses and consumers in the restoration of 100 million trees in five years.

For more information on BMO’s climate ambition, visit our Climate page.

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