The BMO Climate Institute unites expertise from a spectrum of critical disciplines, including capital markets, energy, economics, climate science, and policy as we pursue our Climate Ambition. Our combined expertise reflects the complex and evolving nature of climate change and the need to solve this challenge on multiple fronts.
Team Members
Alma Cortés Selva
Senior Advisor, Economic Modelling
Alma leads the BMO Climate Institute’s economic analysis of low and zero emissions technologies and sector decarbonization roadmaps, as well as the cost-benefit of investments in resilience. She holds a PhD in agricultural economics and has over a decade of experience as an economist assessing the financial impact of fiscal policies in Nicaragua with the Ministry of Finance, evaluating and recommending fiscal incentives for renewable energy and data mining with a US-based public research institution and, most recently, analyzing the impact of climate change on the financial system and credit risk with Moody’s Analytics.
Angela Adduci
Senior Advisor, Policy, BMO Climate Institute
Angela leads climate policy and clean energy workstreams within BMO’s Climate Institute. Prior to joining BMO, Angela led renewables and climate policy efforts at Aon with a focus on mitigating volatility and achieving greater impact from mitigation and resilience funds deployed by government entities. She began her career in infrastructure risk analysis at Argonne National Laboratory. Angela holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Emily Hobbs
Senior Advisor, BMO Climate Institute
Emily leads workstreams at the BMO Climate Institute focused on climate resilience, capacity building, and workforce training. Emily brings a decade of experience working on sustainability and social impact programs in academic, non-profit, and corporate environments. Prior to joining BMO, Emily worked to support producers along global supply chains at the international nonprofit, Fair Trade USA. Emily holds a Masters in Business Administration from The Carroll School of Management at Boston College.
Jayen Veerapen
Senior Advisor, BMO Climate Institute
Jayen leads workstreams focused on innovation and technologies for the energy transition at BMO’s Climate Institute. While he started his career in engineering roles in the mining and oil & gas sectors including at Suncor, for 8 years prior to joining BMO he led investments in renewable energy and clean technology including at Brookfield. Earlier in his career he advised policymakers and industry executives on energy technology at the International Energy Agency (IEA). Licensed as a Professional Engineer in Ontario, Canada, Jayen graduated as a chemical engineer from the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Chimie et de Physique de Bordeaux, France, and holds an MSc Chemical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick, Canada and an MBA from the University of Cambridge, UK.
Jessie Lee
Coordinator, BMO Climate Institute
Jessie is a seasoned support specialist in Program Management, Community Engagement, and Office Management. She comes from the Corporate Social Responsibility team at Bank of the West. Previously, Jessie has various experiences working in underserved communities in Washington, D.C. and in San Francisco as a Program Coordinator.
Kelly Deeton
Director, Environmental and Operational Sustainability
Kelly leads strategy related to BMO’s Operational Sustainability initiatives and is part of BMO’s Climate Institute. Kelly is a globally recognized expert in environmental management and has an advanced understanding of GHG accounting and carbon offset programs. Prior to joining BMO, she developed and executed strategies to mitigate environmental risk in a variety of industry sectors. Kelly is Chair of the Canadian Mirror Committee to ISO / TC 207 on Environmental Management and has played a key role in international standards development. Kelly is a licensed Professional Engineer in Ontario, Canada and holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.
Melissa Fifield
Head, BMO Climate Institute
Melissa leads BMO’s Climate Institute, a center of expertise accelerating climate solutions by bridging science, technology, policy, and finance. She is a global sustainability leader with more than 20 years of experience leading US and international programs across social and environmental impact areas. In 2024, she was named by Environmental Finance as Sustainability Thought Leader of the Year, Americas. Prior to BMO, Melissa led Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability for Bank of the West, and led environmental sustainability across product development, manufacturing, and operations for the global specialty retailer Gap Inc. based in San Francisco.
Michael Torrance
Chief Sustainability Officer
Michael Torrance Chief Sustainability Officer at BMO Financial Group, overseeing sustainability strategy and leading bank-wide initiatives on environmental and social risk, climate change, ESG focused investor relations, sustainability related disclosure, operational sustainability. Michael founded and oversees the BMO Climate Institute, which seeks to bridge the complexities of climate science and policy with business strategy and economics. Prior to joining BMO Michael was a Partner at a major international law firm where he practiced litigation and environmental and social risk advisory. He has served on the Steering Committee of the Equator Principles Association and Chaired the Social Risk Working Group and North America Working Group and has Chaired the Cross-Sector Biodiversity Initiative (CBSI). Michael is a published author on sustainability topics and is regularly quoted in media, and is the founder and host of the Sustainability Leaders podcast.