Green / Sustainable Finance + Climate Risk Flashcards
Place “green finance” within “sustainable finance”
Green finance means the subset of all finance instruments with environmental goals, with the following themes nested:
- – Climate Change Mitigation (low carbon)
- Climate Change Adaption (climate-related)
- Other Environmental
Sustainable Finance also includes Social, Economic, and Governance Themes.
Distinguish between “targeted” green financing and “untargeted” green financing
TARGETED GREEN FINANCING:
Capital is provided for the development and implementation of green technologies / activities / projects (such as the construction of photovoltaic solar electricity generation facilities) or for companies whose revenues are generated to a high extent by green technologies / activities (“specialist green companies”).
UNTARGETED GREEN FINANCING:
Capital is provided for companies that successfully manage environmental (as well as social and governance (ESG)) risks and are thus perceived as more environmentally friendly than others.
What are green bonds?
According to the Green Bond Principles (GBP), “green bonds are any type of bond instrument where the proceeds will be exclusively applied to finance or re-finance new or existing eligible green projects”. In order for a bond to be labelled and accepted as “green”, it is, therefore, required to specify how the proceeds of a bond will be used.
Many green bond issuers develop their own green bond frameworks, e.g. Nordic Investment Bank, Renovate America, Asian Development Bank.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) also leads the effort for a “descriptive” or “standard-neutral” taxonomy.
What are “green activities” in equity investing?
- Screening by ESG criteria
- ESG integration into investment appraisal
- Corporate engagement and shareholder action
- Sustainability themed investing (e.g. green tech)
- Impact investing
Describe the EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy’s criteria for “identifying ESG”
To be eligible, an economic activity must make substantial contribution to at least one or more of the six environmental objectives, and does no significant harm to the other five, and meets the requirements of the minimum Social Safeguards.
Six environmental objectives:
1: climate change mitigation
2: climate change adaptation
3: sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources
4: transition to a circular economy, waste prevention and recycling
5: pollution prevention and control
6: protection of healthy ecosystems.
How does the EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy support the “brown-to-green” transition?
The taxonomy covers some economic sectors and activities that are currently not green or low carbon, but are believed to be low carbon in future, or will make substantial contribution to climate change with policy incentives.
However, these activities must improve their performance significantly to reach a level above the industry average. This is to avoid the carbon lock-in effect of carbon intensive assets or process.
Describe the 3 main policy taxonomies for green investment
EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy:
- Goal: Paris Agreements, climate/environment policies
- Users: Financial market
- Classification: NACE code
- Screening: ESG Principles, carbon thremission thresholds, exclude fossil fuels
NDRC Green Industry Catalogue:
- Goal: Pollution prevention, green industry development
- Users: Policymakers
- Classification: none
- Screening: none
PBC Green Project Endorsed Catalogue:
- Goal: Robust green bond market, 6 environmental objectives
- Users: Green bond issuers
- Classification: industry codes
- Screening: none
Define “green finance”
Green finance is a type of future-oriented finance that simultaneously pursues the development of financial industry, improvement of the environment, and economic growth.
“Green finance should incorporate new technologies, financial products, industries, and services that consider environment, energy efficiency, and reduction of pollutant emissions to support low-carbon green growth”
Define “Sustainable Finance”
Sustainable Finance is the practice of creating economic and social value through financial models, products, and markets that are sustainable over time
Define “Environmental Finance”
Environmental Finance is finance and investment regarding the ecological environment (Air, water, soil, etc.) Environmental Finance regards environmental damage as financial risk. Under environmental finance, projects that harm or potentially damage the environment are prohibited from being funded or financed. This concept is broader than Green Finance in that it focuses on environmental protection, which may not contribute to economic growth.
Define “carbon finance”
Carbon Finance provides resources to a project which aims to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other GHGs
Define “climate finance”
Climate finance supports the activities of climate change adaptation and mitigation to achieve low-carbon economy and implement climate resilient development
Describe the sustainability-linked loan principles
- Relationship to the borrower’s overall CSR strategy
- Target setting – measuring the sustainability of the borrower
- Reporting: borrower to make and keep readily available up to date information relating to its SPTs.
- Review: For each transaction the need for external review is to be negotiated and agreed between the borrower and lenders.
Describe the [green loan / green bond / social bond] principles
- Use of Proceeds:
the proceeds of the loan are used to finance “green projects” as described in the GLP - Project Evaluation/Selection:
the borrower has developed a process for green project evaluation and selection - Monitoring:
the borrower manages and tracks the use of the loan proceeds, and - Reporting:
the borrower makes and keeps available up-to-date information on the use of proceeds.
What is a synthetic ABS bond structure?
In a synthetic ABS (Asset-Backed Security), the issuing bank retains ownership of the loans it wants to use as collateral for the deal but transfers the associated credit risk to an investor via the ABS structure.
What is a MTN bond structure?
Medium term note (MTN) programmes create a debt issuance framework which gives the issuer the flexibility to come to market repeatedly to raise funding.
The eligibility criteria are fixed, but bond terms are set for each bond issue.
What is a green Sukuk bond structure?
A sukuk is an Islamic financial instrument, that complies with Sharia law. The issuer sells an investor group certificates, uses the proceeds to purchase an asset, of which the investor group has partial ownership, and distributes part of the asset revenues as profit to the investors. The assets need to comply with Islamic ethical values, which include green assets and projects.
