BMO Drops Anti-Coal Policy Amid Wall Street Rebuke of ESG
- Bank avoided being labeled oil boycotter by West Virginia
- Its coal lending statement was removed in November last year
Banks and investment firms have been less vocal about their climate efforts after Republicans have spent more than two years attacking the environmental, social and governance strategy that the finance industry embraced.
Photographer: Chloe Ellingson/BloombergBMO Bank quietly dropped its policy restricting lending to the coal industry in late 2023, helping it avoid being labeled an energy “boycotter” in West Virginia.
The change came to light Monday after West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore took a victory lap in an announcement of the financial firms it was adding to its boycott list, which doesn’t include BMO. In late February, the bank received a warning that it could be put on a state list of companies that Moore’s office considers to boycott the fossil fuels industry. BMO is the US subsidiary of Toronto-based Bank of Montreal.