Bank of Montreal agreed to buy carbon credits from CarbonCure Technologie, a company backed by investors including
The Canadian lender will buy 5,750 metric tons of CO2 removal and reductions over the next five years, BMO said in an statement Wednesday. That amounts to over 17% of the direct lender's emissions from the use of fuel, known as Scope 1, last year but excludes emissions from companies BMO invests in, also known as "financed emissions."
CarbonCure's systems inject captured CO2 into a ready-mix concrete used for construction projects, a process that enables less reliance on carbon-intensive cement, fresh water and other materials. In July, the lender agreed to acquire Calgary-based Radicle Group in a bid to
"We are interested in the growth and development of the carbon markets as a tool to help achieve policy objectives towards net zero,"
The credits from CarbonCure are expected to be delivered every September from 2022 to 2026, and the firm's carbon credits have been certified by offset verifier
Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund and Bill Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy Ventures co-led an investment group in CarbonCure, the Canadian clean tech company said in a September 2020
Microsoft and Canada's government owned BDC Capital also took part in the deal. Amazon is working to lower the embodied carbon footprint by using CarbonCure concrete in many of its new buildings, the Seattle-based online retail giant said at that time in a separate
BMO's operational greenhouse emissions totaled 100,261 of metric tons last year, the lender said in its 2021 Climate Report. Since 2010, BMO has been carbon neutral in its own operations via a combination of reducing energy use, purchasing renewable energy certificates to match 100% of electricity use and offsetting remaining emissions, Torrance said in a statement Wednesday.
