Chapter 3: Environmental Factors Flashcards
Which planetary boundaries have been crossed?
- Climate change (>350ppm)
- Biosphere integrity (amazon burning)
- Land-system change (agreable land)
- Biochemical circles (Baltic Sea)
What are transition risks?
- Result from changes in climate and energy policy and the shift to low-carbon tech
1. Climate policy +
2. Technology change
3. Consumer preferences
4. Market change
What are physical risks?
- Results from extreme weather events, acute or chronic risks from longer-term changes
- Travel and leasure highest risk
What are the goals for climate change mitigation?
- Avoid significant human interference with climate system
- Stabilize GHG in time sufficient for ecosystem to adapt
- Ensure food production
- Enable economic and sustainable development
What are the main climate scenarios in terms of temperature increase and emission trajectory?
- RCP 2.6 -> not likely to exceed 2 degees / Aggressive mitigation / Emissions halved by 2050
- RCP 4.5 -> More likely than not to exceed 2 degrees / Strong mitigation /emissions half by 2080
- RCP 6.0 -> Likely to exceed 2 degrees / Some mitigation / Emissions rise to 2080, than fall
RCP 8.5 -> As likely as not to exceed 4 degrees, emissions rise at current rate, business-as-usual
What sectors are particularly exposed to biodiversity loss?
- Agriculture
- Extractive industries
- Forestry
- Tourism
What material risk are companies facing that are exposed to deforestration?
○ Supply disruption
○ Cost volatility
○Reputational damage (Germany)
What are the key components of a Green Bond Framework?
- Eligible use-of-proceeds criteria
- Process for project evaluation and selection
- Management of proceeds
- Reporting
What is governed by the Green Loan Principles?
- Green use of loan proceeds
- Projects sustainability objectives have been evaluated and communicated to lenders
- Management
- Reporting
What should investors in the Green Loan and Bond Market know?
- Eligibilty of asses and criteria to meet ESG objectives
- Effective allocation of proceeds
- Transparent reporting requirements and KPI
- Issuer or Borrower has sustainability and ESG strategy
What describes a circular economy?
- In a circular economy, products and materials are repaired, reused and recycled rather than thrown away
- Based on the principle that waste and pollution is designed out
- Keeping products and materials in use, regenerating natural systems
What steps should one take to conduct a climate scenario analysis?
- Establish objectives - Alignment or financial materiality/impact
- Understand climate scenarios and how they can be translated into investment analyses parameters
- Top-down mapping to identify main areas of riks OR bottom-up in-depth analysis
- Review findings and consider actions
- Ongoing monitoring
- Disclosure
What is the general approach to conduct a materiality assessment of environmental risks on companies?
- Take set of transparent and credible data source (quantitative or qualitative)
- Apply recognize methodology
- Focus on materiality - specific business model, operation, financial performance
- Generate outputs that can be measured in KPIs
What is the purpose of a climate scenario analysis?
- Forward-looking assessment of climate-related risks and opportunities
- Describes a process of evaluating how an organisation, sector, country or portfolio might perform in different future states
- To understand key drivers and outcomes
- Used to understand financial impact or need for alignment
What are the different scopes of emission?
- Scope 1 ○ Fuel combustion ○ Company vehicles ○ Fugitive emissions - Scope 2 ○ Purchased electricity, heat and steam - Scope 3: ○ Purchased goods and services ○ Business travel ○ Employee commuting ○ Waste disposal ○ Use of sold products ○ Transportation and distribution (up- and downstream) ○ Investments ○ Leased assets and franchises