In an episode of the Sustainability Leaders podcast, Melissa Fifield, Head of the BMO Climate Institute, sits down with Kristin Milchanowski, BMO’s Chief AI and Data Officer, to explore how AI can become a cornerstone of corporate sustainability strategies. Their conversation covered practical applications, ethical considerations, and the steps required to integrate AI into corporate sustainability frameworks. 

Texas has grown to become a renewable energy powerhouse. In this episode of Sustainability Leaders, Michael Torrance, Chief Sustainability Officer at BMO, is joined by Raina Hornaday, General Manager and Co-Founder of Caprock Renewables in Austin, Texas. A fifth-generation rancher, Raina has also been a pioneer enabling Texas to become one of the top states in U.S. for wind and solar energy production. They discuss the development of the renewable energy industry in Texas and what’s needed for the Lone Star state to continue leading in this space.

In this episode of Sustainability Leaders, Stephen Uwazota, Director of Sustainable Finance and Clean Energy, BMO sits down with Raj DasGupta, Chief Executive Officer at Electrovaya, a global supplier of lithium-ion batteries. Their wide-ranging conversation covered the advantage of lithium battery chemistries, enhanced battery safety, and opportunities in the industrial, AI and security sectors.

As demand for clean sources of power has risen, so has interest in nuclear energy. In this episode of Sustainability Leaders, Jayen Veerapen, Senior Advisor with the BMO Climate Institute, explores the factors driving a resurgence in the nuclear industry and what innovations are on the horizon. Joining Jayen to share his insights is Chris Levesque, President and CEO of TerraPower, a company founded by business leader and philanthropist Bill Gates. TerraPower’s mission is to solve the world’s toughest problems in energy, climate, and human health through innovative nuclear technology.

In the latest episode of Sustainability Leaders, Michael Torrance, Chief Sustainability Officer at BMO, hosts Helena Viñes Fiestas, who is Chair of the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance, Co-Chair of the Taskforce on Net Zero Policy, and Commissioner of the Spanish Financial Markets Authority. Helena provides her perspective on sustainable and climate finance, sustainability reporting, and governance, in the EU and around the world.

Note: This episode deals with wildfires and the damage they inflict on the built environment, topics that some may find challenging.

Between 1980 and 2023 the U.S. had 22 wildfires that individually caused more than $1 billion in damage, with 18 of those occurring since 2000, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Wildfire seasons are lasting longer and fires are causing more damage. In this episode of Sustainability Leaders, Alma Cortes Selva, Senior Advisor with the BMO Climate Institute, sits down with Dr. Kimiko Barrett, Wildfires Researcher and Policy Analyst with Headwaters Economics.

In this episode of Sustainability Leaders, Melissa Fifield, Head of the BMO Climate Institute, and John Uhren, Managing Director of Sustainable Finance at BMO Capital Markets, reflect on what they saw and heard at Climate Week New York and the trends that will drive sustainable business and investment in the future.

“A phrase I heard a lot throughout New York Climate Week was around climate pragmatism, being eyes wide open around what needs to happen for sustainability to be properly characterized and prioritized by different businesses,” said Uhren. “When you focus on the pragmatic parts, the efficiency gains of looking at things like EV drivetrains over combustion engines, for example, or heat pumps over boilers, these all make commercial sense for a business.”

Risk management is an important driver of why companies form their own human rights policies. But collaborative approaches to human rights aligned with the key voluntary standards can also be opportunities for companies. In this episode of Sustainability Leaders, Michael Torrance, Chief Sustainability Officer at BMO, discusses business, human rights and sustainability law with Yousuf Aftab, partner with the law firm Steptoe. Their conversation spanned Yousuf’s work on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights as well as how he advises companies on developing human rights policies.

The mission of the company Booking Holdings—which includes the brands Booking.com, Priceline, and OpenTable—is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world. In this episode of Sustainability Leaders, Kate Heiny, Vice President of Sustainability at Booking Holdings, explains that in order to do that, we need a world worth experiencing. Melissa Fifield, Head of the BMO Climate Institute, sits down with Kate for a wide ranging conversation on the intersection of travel and sustainability and opportunities in the travel sector.

“There's this beautiful alignment for us in terms of making sure that we continue to make travel available for billions of people, and journeys in the future, and that the world is a place that everyone wants to experience,” Kate said.

In the latest episode of Sustainability Leaders, Michael Torrance, Chief Sustainability Officer, BMO, is joined by Matt Morris, associate with Hitachi Ventures, the global venture capital arm of Hitachi Group. They discuss what it takes to commercialize new forms of clean energy and the investment theses of Hitachi Ventures, including the potential of fusion and fission.

"As we think about the clean energy transition … focusing on the supply chains that can enable the development of new energy assets are likely going to be the drivers for making all of these new assets economical," said Morris. "So, we're just at the beginning of seeing what our new generating assets in the clean energy revolution are about to achieve."