BMO’s Kelly Deeton Represents Canada at International Meetings on Environmental Standards

International Organization for Standardization (ISO) – an independent, non-governmental international organization with a membership of 164 national standards bodies – recently held its annual meetings on Environmental Management in Berlin. The meetings were aimed at advancing international agreements on environmental standards. And BMO’s Kelly Deeton was there, representing the bank – and all of Canada.

Kelly is Senior Advisor, Environmental and Operational Sustainability in BMO’s Sustainability Office, and she’s also the Head of the Canadian Delegation and the Chair of Canada’s Mirror Committee to ISO’s Technical Committee 207/Sub-committee 1 on Environmental Management Systems. Their focus is on developing standards-based tools in support of sustainable development. A long-time expert in the field, Kelly was voted in to her role unanimously by sustainability experts from across Canada.

ISO brings together experts to share knowledge and develop voluntary, consensus-based, market-relevant international standards that support innovation and provide solutions to global challenges, including climate change. As Head of the Canadian Delegation, it’s Kelly’s responsibility to bring the Canadian perspective to the international forum.

Thanks to Kelly’s efforts, BMO has been recognized by key stakeholders, as the bank is providing a service to both Canada and the extended international community. Kelly’s work in this field not only gives BMO unique access to information and tools that can help shape our climate change strategy, but also ensures that the bank has a deep understanding of some of the more challenging components of the standards. Her work is a tangible demonstration that we at BMO acknowledge and embrace our role as leaders in social change.

The standards developed at these international meetings have already helped to advance BMO’s leadership in the area of environmental responsibility.  For example, we now have four facilities across the enterprise certified to ISO 14001 for the implementation of robust, credible and reliable environmental management systems.  Not only have these sites improved their environmental performance and reduced operating costs, but the associated external recognition has been a reputational benefit.

“My goal is to ensure that Canada’s voice informs the global consensus related to standards solutions to help address climate change,” says Kelly. “Those efforts are tied to BMO’s sustainability principles, and to our goal to doing all of our work sustainably.”