Sustainability Leaders

Sustainability Leaders’ special guest host Eric Smith, Vice-Chair of BMO Harris Bank is joined by Shelley Stewart III, a Partner at McKinsey & Company and one of the leaders of their Institute for Black Economic Mobility, and Andrea Zopp, a Managing Partner at Cleveland Avenue, a venture fund that fosters growth in the food, beverage and restaurant industries. Andrea previously served as CEO and President of both the Chicago Urban League and World Business Chicago. A transcript of this episode is available at bmo.com/sustainabilityleaders-podcast.

To celebrate Black History Month and International Women’s Day and in keeping with our commitment to building a society with zero barriers to inclusion, we invite you to listen to this special episode of Sustainability Leaders featuring the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Canada’s 27th Governor General, and the first Haitian-Canadian to hold the office, and a panel of BMO executives including Darryl White, CEO, BMO Financial Group. The event, Building Empowerment Through a Racial and Gender Equity Lens, is moderated by Deland Kamanga, Head, Global Markets, BMO Capital Markets and focuses on intersectionality and empowerment. A transcript is available at bmo.com/sustainabilityleaders-podcast.

In this episode, Michael Torrance speaks with Pavan Sukhdev, an internationally recognized authority on the integration of sustainability impact and natural, human and social capital into accounting and disclosure for the private sector. They discuss how natural capital is defined, different disclosure frameworks, and how companies should approach this subject.

In this episode of Sustainability Leaders, Michael Torrance talks to Eric Smith, Vice-Chair, BMO Harris Bank, and Christine Canning, Managing Director of Supplier Relationship Management at BMO, about the importance and benefits of sourcing from minority-owned businesses. They’ll offer tips on how businesses can create a successful framework for sourcing from minority-owned firms, who should be at the table when you’re developing a strategy and how to measure success. For a transcript of this episode you can visit bmo.com/SustainabilityLeaders.

BMO Global Asset Management’s Responsible Investing team celebrated there 20th year of investor engagement in 2020. In that time, corporate engagement on ESG issues has gone from niche to relatively mainstream, but there is still much work to do help companies align their bottom lines with positive ESG changes in their business.

Jonathan Hackett is joined by Vicki Bakhshi, a Director in BMO GAM’s Responsible Investing team, to discuss the sea change that has taken place during the last 20 years of investor engagement. Plus, Vicki discusses what the team believes the next ten years will bring as engagement on ESG topics broadens to more companies in more countries than ever before.

Bloomberg recently hosted its third annual Sustainable Finance Week with BMO as a presenting sponsor

for the second consecutive year. Bloomberg Sustainable Finance Week brings together corporations,

clients and thought leaders for a discussion on sustainable finance, focusing on ideas and innovations

that drive environmental and social improvement on a global scale. Bloomberg brings together a

number of sustainable finance solutions, offering data-driven insights to help investors integrate ESG

throughout the full investment process. This includes ESG solutions that combine and standardize

company-reported and third-party data, including ESG scoring, access to news and research and

analytics built specifically for investors.

BMO’s John Uhren is joined by Patricia Torres, Global Head of Sustainable Finance Solutions at

Bloomberg, in a discussion on its efforts to enhance ESG disclosure and transparency.

November 18 marked the start of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2020, which aims to bring attention to the ever-evolving public health crisis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) due to the overuse and misuse of antibiotics around the world.   

Dame Sally Davies, UK Special Envoy on Antimicrobial Resistance, and James Anderson, Head of Corporate Government Affairs at GlaxoSmithKline, who leads the company’s advocacy on AMR, joins the podcast to discuss how antibiotic use in humans, livestock and plants is fueling AMR today. Plus, they provide an overview of engagement in this space to encourage responsible antibiotic use globally. 

In the second episode of our two part series Canadian Energy and Innovation, Jonathan Hackett takes us through two case studies of companies that have found ways to innovate to directly address the problem of greenhouse gas. First he is joined by Steve Oldham, CEO of Carbon Engineering, a Canadian company that has developed a technology for Direct Air Capture of carbon dioxide. The later in the episode he speaks with Kevin Jabusch, President and CEO of Enhance Energy, about how his company uses the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line to create a business model around Carbon Mitigation and their plans for the future of this industry. Full transcript available at bmo.com/Sustainabilityleaders-podcast

Around the world, livestock is responsible for more gas emissions than every car, airplane and train put together. What changes can be made to the food production system to support an ever-growing population while also mitigating impacts on our environment?

David Sneyd is joined by Jo Raven from FAIRR Initiative to discuss the progress that is already underway to create a more sustainable system, including the rise of alternative, plant-based proteins in the food supply chain.

The Canadian energy sector is a leading source of sustainable energy and innovation that will make Canada a leader in the decades to come. It is subject to some of the world’s highest environmental and social regulatory requirements, building on Canada’s strong governance approach to these topics. In order to meet international climate goals and raise standards of living, the energy sector requires innovation. 

On today’s podcast, Michael Torrance speaks with three different guests to talk about innovation and leadership in the Canadian energy sector. First, Chris Slubicki, President and CEO of Modern Resources - a Western Canadian oil and gas producer, talks about how Canada is a global leader in sustainable energy and energy production. Then Ray Kwan, an Oil & Gas Analyst with BMO Capital Markets Equity Research, talks about the innovative process of Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) and how CCUS works. Finally, Jeff Pearson, the President of the Carbon Business Unit at Wolf Midstream - the company developing The Alberta Carbon Trunk Line, talks about how Wolf Midstream has used the innovative process of CCUS in developing the Alberta Trunk Line project.