BMO Financial Group plans to join Breakthrough Energy Catalyst and its philanthropic and private sector partners to accelerate clean technologies and climate solutions that are critical to getting the world to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

“We’re excited by the opportunity to be the first Canadian company to join Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, whose mandate strongly aligns with BMO’s purpose to boldly grow the good in business and life and our commitment to mobilizing capital for a sustainable future,” Darryl White, CEO of BMO Financial Group, said. “We look forward to applying our extensive project finance and energy transition expertise to the acceleration of climate innovation critical to helping the economy and our clients make progress in the transition to a net-zero world.”

“Getting to net-zero is going to take a global effort to find and support innovative climate technologies, which can be expensive to adapt and scale,” Jonathan Hackett, head of sustainable finance and co-head of the energy transition group at BMO Financial Group, said. “BMO is particularly suited to this challenge given our ongoing investments, via the BMO Impact Investment Fund, in companies that are providing sustainability solutions, as well as the experience we have through the energy transition group in transitioning clients through sustainable finance solutions.”

BMO will be the first Canadian company to join Breakthrough Energy Catalyst to support climate innovation, including direct air capture, clean hydrogen, long-duration energy storage and sustainable aviation fuel. To help commercialize and scale the most promising climate technologies, the bank plans to contribute $50 million over five years, project finance capabilities and the expertise of its energy transition group.

Carbon neutral in its own operations since 2010, BMO announced its Climate Ambition in March 2021 with a commitment to deploy $300 billion in sustainable lending and underwriting to companies pursuing sustainable outcomes by 2025.