Sustainability Leaders

The U.S. is a net importer of organic food, and demand for certified organic products represents an opportunity for domestic agricultural businesses. That was one of the main points to come from the latest episode of Sustainability Leaders, hosted by Emily Hobbs, Senior Advisor, BMO Climate Institute, and featuring Jessy Beckett Parr, Chief Program Officer, California Certified Organic Farmers (CC...

Renewable energy generation continues to grow and increase the need to store energy efficiently and economically for longer durations of time. In the latest episode of Sustainability Leaders, Jayen Veerapen, Senior Advisor with the BMO Climate Institute, explores how zinc-based batteries and storage assets could be an interesting alternative to lithium-ion battery chemistries. His guest is James L...

In his New York Times-Bestselling book Cheaper, Faster, Better, Tom Steyer reframes climate change not as a crisis to fear, but as a once-in-a-century opportunity to build something better. In the latest episode of Sustainability Leaders, Melissa Fifield, Head of the BMO Climate Institute, and Grégoire Baillargeon, Vice-Chair BMO Climate Institute, sit down with Tom Steyer, Co-Executive Chair of G...

Helium-3 is an important isotope for technological and energy innovation driving the net-zero transition. It's very rare on Earth but found commonly on the Moon. In the latest episode of Sustainability Leaders, Michael Torrance, Chief Sustainability Officer at BMO, catches up with Glen Martin, Chief Executive Officer of The Extraterrestrial Mining Company (XMC), to discuss mining Helium-3 on the M...

In the latest episode of Sustainability Leaders, Emily Hobbs, Senior Advisor with the BMO Climate Institute, sits down with Matt Petersen, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator. They discuss the role of startups and innovation in LA as communities rebuild after devastating wildfires. They also explored the importance of public-private partnerships as the second-most populous U.S...

Identifying the most promising innovations in clean energy and turning them into commercially viable solutions are not easy to do. In the newest episode of Sustainability Leaders, Michael Torrance, Chief Sustainability Officer with BMO, sits down with Tyson White, Director of Partnerships at world leading venture and catalyst investor Breakthrough Energy. Founded by philanthropist and investor Bil...

It might seem obvious to say that the energy transition will require a lot of innovation to happen. But it's anything but obvious how a combination of technology, new thinking, and hard work will address our present-day energy challenges. In the newest episode of Sustainability Leaders, Michael Torrance, Chief Sustainability Officer, BMO hosts Denver Yu, an analyst with Los Angeles-based Generatio...

In the latest episode of Sustainability Leaders, Melissa Fifield, Head of the BMO Climate Institute, discusses escalating water-related risks for businesses and the importance of public-private partnerships for water stewardship. She is joined by Jason Morrison, President of the Pacific Institute and Head of the CEO Water Mandate, an initiative of the UN Global Compact.

Addressing the increasingly complex problem of wildfires that threaten people, communities and economic assets, requires new ways of thinking and new technologies. That is the premise of Convective Capital, California-based venture capital firm that invests in companies trying to solve the global wildfire crisis. Jay Ribakove, Principal at Convective, joins Michael Torrance, Chief Sustainability O...

Agrivoltaics is an innovation in which land is simultaneously used for farming and solar energy production. The aim is to increase land use efficiency, produce income, and generate environmental and social value. In the latest episode of Sustainability Leaders, Melissa Fifield, Head of the BMO Climate Institute, sits down with Kathryn Beroš, Founder and Managing Director of KAP Industry, a global...

How is the metals and mining industry driving sustainable development? Rohitesh Dhawan, CEO and President of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), and Camilla Sutton, BMO’s Head of Equity Research for Canada and the UK, explore the industry’s progress, key achievements, and what’s next. During this 30-minute episode, they discuss the ICMM and its members’ progress on Consolidated...

Critical minerals are essential inputs in modern energy and high-tech applications, including batteries, energy storage and infrastructure, and national security. They also play an important role in the global energy transition, where demand is expected to necessitate significant investment in order to develop new mines, downstream processing capacity, and secure and resilient supply chains. In th...

In the latest episode of Sustainability Leaders, Jonathan Hackett, Former Managing Director and Head, Sustainable Finance, BMO Capital Markets, sits down with Francisco Leon, President and CEO, California Resources Corporation (CRC), the state's largest oil and gas production company. CRC is focused not only on meeting the present energy needs of the world's fifth-largest economy, but also prepari...

In this two-part episode of Sustainability Leaders,  George Sutherland, Senior Advisor of Climate Change & Sustainability, hosts a conversation about the state of building retrofits, parallels between retrofits and future climate objectives, and potential opportunities. Our guests on the show include Bryan Flannigan, Executive Director, Building Decarbonization Alliance; Max Graham, Chief Operatin...

In this two-part episode of Sustainability Leaders,  George Sutherland, Senior Advisor of Climate Change & Sustainability, hosts a conversation about the state of building retrofits, parallels between retrofits and future climate objectives, and potential opportunities. Our guests on the show include Bryan Flannigan, Executive Director, Building Decarbonization Alliance; Max Graham, Chief Operatin...

In the latest episode of Sustainability Leaders, Angela Adduci, Senior Advisor, BMO Climate Institute, hosts a conversation with two complementary perspectives on sustainable procurement. Nathan Cummins, Global Lead for Renewable Energy Markets at The Nature Conservancy, shares insights from a toolkit to help corporate buyers with clean energy procurement. Sherrie O'Doyle, Director, Sustainable Pr...

In this episode of Sustainability Leaders, host Caroline Donlin leads a panel of experts in exploring the future of sustainable construction. The discussion covers a range of topics, including the adoption of low-carbon building practices, the impact of tax credits on sustainable development, and the challenges facing the industry. Panelists James Burrow, Julia Gisewite, Barry Howard, and Nicholas...

A sustainable energy transition and growing demands for energy will require creative and novel ideas in energy science to become reality. How should we evaluate novel claims? What are some of the most promising areas of research in breakthrough energy? George Hathaway is an experimental scientist and engineer whose career has focused on how to experimentally validate novel and breakthrough energy...

In this episode of Sustainability Leaders, Alma Cortés-Selva, Senior Advisor at the BMO Climate Institute, is joined by Nicole Rojas, CEO of Lasso Solutions, to explore the transformative funding solutions that are helping the beef and dairy sectors cut down on carbon emissions and embrace more sustainable practices.

Infrastructure is a vital driver of environmental sustainability and social resilience. Recorded at the Toronto Global Forum in 2024, this discussion on the challenges and opportunities of sustainable infrastructure was moderated by Karen Mazurkewich, Vice-President, Stakeholder Relations and Communications, Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), and included Grégoire Baillargeon, President of...

In this episode of Sustainability Leaders recorded on location at Climate Week NYC, Jonathan Hackett, Managing Director and Head, Sustainable Finance at BMO, sat down with Justine Fisher, CFO at Svante, to discuss the state of carbon solutions, regulations, and carbon credit markets.

This episode explores why real estate owners and developers are increasingly committing to sustainable practices, and how builders are supporting these initiatives.

In this episode of Sustainability Leaders, BMO’s Alma Cortes-Selva leads a roundtable discussion on supply chain management and sustainability.

Grégoire Baillargeon, President, BMO Financial Group, Quebec, and Fred Lalonde, co-founder of Deep Sky, discuss why carbon removal technology solutions are urgently needed and the opportunities to scale them.

In this episode of Sustainability Leaders, Issam Majeed, Managing Director of Diversified Industries, BMO Corporate Finance sat down with Anil Abrol, Founder and CEO of Eco Guardian. Eco Guardian has been helping lead the way in sustainable packaging for the last 20 years and is at the forefront of the fight against environmental degradation, specializing in organic and eco-friendly products desig...