GREEN cheat sheet

Brundtland definition (1987): development meeting present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet theirs.

Three ESG pillars: Environmental (emissions, water, biodiversity), Social (labor, safety, community), Governance (board, ethics, disclosure).

Triple bottom line (Elkington): People, Planet, Profit - performance reported across all three, not profit alone.

Materiality: an issue is material if it can reasonably affect enterprise value or stakeholder decisions; SASB/ISSB emphasize financial materiality, GRI emphasizes impact materiality.

Planetary boundaries (Rockström): nine Earth-system limits; climate change, biosphere integrity, biogeochemical flows, and land-system change are currently most exceeded.

SDGs: 17 goals, 169 targets, adopted 2015 with a 2030 horizon; companies map contributions by goal and target, not by logo.

ESG ratings diverge because agencies use different scopes, weights, and materiality maps; correlation between major raters is often only moderate.

Greenwashing: a claim that overstates environmental benefit; enforcement routes include advertising law, securities disclosure rules, and EU Green Claims scrutiny.

Greenhouse gases under the Kyoto/GHG Protocol basket: CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, SF6, NF3.

GWP converts non-CO2 gases to CO2e: GWP-100 for CH4 is about 28 (AR5) or 27–30 (AR6); use one consistent GWP set and state it.

Scopes: Scope 1 direct fuel/process emissions; Scope 2 purchased electricity/heat; Scope 3 all other value-chain emissions (15 categories).

Scope 2 dual reporting: location-based uses grid average emission factor; market-based uses contractual instruments such as RECs or PPAs.

Core formula: emissions (tCO2e) = activity data × emission factor × GWP; document factor source and year.

Organizational boundary: equity share or control (financial or operational) approach; consolidation approach must be disclosed and applied consistently.

Setting targets: base year, target year, scope coverage, and boundary; SBTi near-term targets require roughly 4.2%/yr linear reduction for 1.5 °C alignment.

Reporting frameworks: ISSB IFRS S1/S2, GRI, CDP disclosure, TCFD-aligned governance/strategy/risk/metrics structure; CSRD/ESRS in the EU.

Green bond use-of-proceeds: allocation to eligible green projects, project evaluation and selection, management of proceeds (ring-fenced or tracked), plus reporting.

ICMA Green Bond Principles and Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles are voluntary market standards; SLBs tie coupon step-ups to KPI/SPT achievement.

External review types: second-party opinion, verification, certification (e.g., Climate Bonds Standard), and rating.

EU Taxonomy: substantial contribution to one of six environmental objectives, do-no-significant-harm to the others, plus minimum social safeguards.

Greenium: the yield concession green bonds may command versus conventional equivalents; evidence is issuer- and market-dependent, often a few basis points.

ESG integration approaches: negative screening, norms-based screening, best-in-class, thematic, impact investing, and active stewardship/voting.

Transition finance funds high-emitting sectors' decarbonization; credibility depends on credible targets, capex alignment, and disclosed milestones.

Principal–agent and greenwashing risk: verify fund labels against holdings; SFDR classifies products as Article 6, 8, or 9.

ISO 14001 uses Plan–Do–Check–Act: environmental policy, aspects and impacts register, legal register, objectives, operational controls, internal audit, management review.

Significant aspect determination weighs likelihood, severity, regulatory exposure, and stakeholder concern; significant aspects drive objectives and controls.

Waste hierarchy, most to least preferred: prevent, reuse, recycle, recover (energy), dispose.

Circular economy (Ellen MacArthur): design out waste and pollution, keep products and materials in use, regenerate natural systems.

Material flow metrics: material intensity (mass per unit output), recycled content %, product circularity, and landfill diversion rate.

Life-cycle assessment stages: goal and scope, inventory (LCI), impact assessment (LCIA), interpretation; functional unit is the basis of comparison.

Extended producer responsibility shifts end-of-life cost to producers; eco-design rules target repairability, durability, and recycled content.

Water and biodiversity tools: water footprint (blue, green, grey), water stress screening, and mitigation hierarchy (avoid, minimize, restore, offset).

ILO core conventions cover freedom of association and collective bargaining, forced labor, child labor, discrimination, and occupational safety and health.

Human rights due diligence (UNGP): policy commitment, impact assessment, integration into processes, tracking, and remediation; applies across the value chain.

Salient human rights issues are those most severe or likely to be negatively affected by the business, prioritized by severity over leverage alone.

Labor metrics: turnover, lost-time injury frequency rate (LTIFR = lost-time injuries × 1,000,000 / hours worked), gender pay gap, living wage gap.

Living wage differs from minimum wage: it reflects cost of a decent standard of living in a specific location; benchmarks include Anker methodology.

Community impact tools: stakeholder mapping, grievance mechanisms, free prior informed consent (FPIC) for Indigenous peoples, and social license to operate.

Supply chain social risk screening: tier-1 vs sub-tier visibility, audit fatigue, and worker voice channels such as anonymous grievance hotlines.

Social bond principles mirror green bonds: target populations, use of proceeds, and measurable social outcome reporting.

Board duties: duty of care and duty of loyalty; independence, committee structure (audit, risk, remuneration, sustainability), and skills matrix.

Separation of chair and CEO, board diversity, and overboarding limits are common governance quality indicators.

Anti-bribery management: ISO 37001; FCPA prohibits bribery of foreign officials and requires books-and-records accuracy; UK Bribery Act covers commercial bribery too.

Whistleblowing program elements: multiple confidential channels, non-retaliation policy, triage and investigation protocol, and audit committee oversight.

Conflicts of interest: identify, disclose, recuse, or manage; related-party transactions require independent review and disclosure.

Compliance program components: code of conduct, risk assessment, training, third-party due diligence, monitoring, and discipline.

Tax transparency and lobbying disclosure are governance issues; misalignment between climate lobbying and stated climate policy is a common flag.

Data ethics and cybersecurity oversight: board-level accountability, incident response, and privacy compliance (e.g., GDPR lawful basis).

Project charter for green projects should state the environmental objective, baseline, and quantified expected impact (e.g., tCO2e avoided per year).

Additionality: the claimed benefit must exceed business-as-usual; without it, an emission reduction would have happened anyway.

Risk register structure: risk description, cause, consequence, likelihood, impact, score, owner, mitigation, residual risk.

Risk categories for green projects: regulatory/permit, technology performance, weather/resource variability, supply chain, financing, reputational, and measurement risk.

MRV (monitoring, reporting, verification): define metrics, data sources, frequency, QA/QC, and independent verification before claiming outcomes.

Avoided-emissions accounting: baseline scenario, project scenario, leakage (emissions shifted outside the boundary), and permanence/durability of reductions.

Stakeholder engagement plan: identify affected parties, engagement level (inform/consult/involve), timeline, and grievance route.

Green procurement: specify environmental criteria in tender evaluation, verify supplier claims, and include contract KPIs with remedies.

Brundtland definition (1987): development meeting present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet theirs.

Three ESG pillars: Environmental (emissions, water, biodiversity), Social (labor, safety, community), Governance (board, ethics, disclosure).

Triple bottom line (Elkington): People, Planet, Profit - performance reported across all three, not profit alone.

Materiality: an issue is material if it can reasonably affect enterprise value or stakeholder decisions; SASB/ISSB emphasize financial materiality, GRI emphasizes impact materiality.

Planetary boundaries (Rockström): nine Earth-system limits; climate change, biosphere integrity, biogeochemical flows, and land-system change are currently most exceeded.

SDGs: 17 goals, 169 targets, adopted 2015 with a 2030 horizon; companies map contributions by goal and target, not by logo.

ESG ratings diverge because agencies use different scopes, weights, and materiality maps; correlation between major raters is often only moderate.

Greenwashing: a claim that overstates environmental benefit; enforcement routes include advertising law, securities disclosure rules, and EU Green Claims scrutiny.

Greenhouse gases under the Kyoto/GHG Protocol basket: CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, SF6, NF3.

GWP converts non-CO2 gases to CO2e: GWP-100 for CH4 is about 28 (AR5) or 27–30 (AR6); use one consistent GWP set and state it.

Scopes: Scope 1 direct fuel/process emissions; Scope 2 purchased electricity/heat; Scope 3 all other value-chain emissions (15 categories).

Scope 2 dual reporting: location-based uses grid average emission factor; market-based uses contractual instruments such as RECs or PPAs.

Core formula: emissions (tCO2e) = activity data × emission factor × GWP; document factor source and year.

Organizational boundary: equity share or control (financial or operational) approach; consolidation approach must be disclosed and applied consistently.

Setting targets: base year, target year, scope coverage, and boundary; SBTi near-term targets require roughly 4.2%/yr linear reduction for 1.5 °C alignment.

Reporting frameworks: ISSB IFRS S1/S2, GRI, CDP disclosure, TCFD-aligned governance/strategy/risk/metrics structure; CSRD/ESRS in the EU.

Green bond use-of-proceeds: allocation to eligible green projects, project evaluation and selection, management of proceeds (ring-fenced or tracked), plus reporting.

ICMA Green Bond Principles and Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles are voluntary market standards; SLBs tie coupon step-ups to KPI/SPT achievement.

External review types: second-party opinion, verification, certification (e.g., Climate Bonds Standard), and rating.

EU Taxonomy: substantial contribution to one of six environmental objectives, do-no-significant-harm to the others, plus minimum social safeguards.

Greenium: the yield concession green bonds may command versus conventional equivalents; evidence is issuer- and market-dependent, often a few basis points.

ESG integration approaches: negative screening, norms-based screening, best-in-class, thematic, impact investing, and active stewardship/voting.

Transition finance funds high-emitting sectors' decarbonization; credibility depends on credible targets, capex alignment, and disclosed milestones.

Principal–agent and greenwashing risk: verify fund labels against holdings; SFDR classifies products as Article 6, 8, or 9.

ISO 14001 uses Plan–Do–Check–Act: environmental policy, aspects and impacts register, legal register, objectives, operational controls, internal audit, management review.

Significant aspect determination weighs likelihood, severity, regulatory exposure, and stakeholder concern; significant aspects drive objectives and controls.

Waste hierarchy, most to least preferred: prevent, reuse, recycle, recover (energy), dispose.

Circular economy (Ellen MacArthur): design out waste and pollution, keep products and materials in use, regenerate natural systems.

Material flow metrics: material intensity (mass per unit output), recycled content %, product circularity, and landfill diversion rate.

Life-cycle assessment stages: goal and scope, inventory (LCI), impact assessment (LCIA), interpretation; functional unit is the basis of comparison.

Extended producer responsibility shifts end-of-life cost to producers; eco-design rules target repairability, durability, and recycled content.

Water and biodiversity tools: water footprint (blue, green, grey), water stress screening, and mitigation hierarchy (avoid, minimize, restore, offset).

ILO core conventions cover freedom of association and collective bargaining, forced labor, child labor, discrimination, and occupational safety and health.

Human rights due diligence (UNGP): policy commitment, impact assessment, integration into processes, tracking, and remediation; applies across the value chain.

Salient human rights issues are those most severe or likely to be negatively affected by the business, prioritized by severity over leverage alone.

Labor metrics: turnover, lost-time injury frequency rate (LTIFR = lost-time injuries × 1,000,000 / hours worked), gender pay gap, living wage gap.

Living wage differs from minimum wage: it reflects cost of a decent standard of living in a specific location; benchmarks include Anker methodology.

Community impact tools: stakeholder mapping, grievance mechanisms, free prior informed consent (FPIC) for Indigenous peoples, and social license to operate.

Supply chain social risk screening: tier-1 vs sub-tier visibility, audit fatigue, and worker voice channels such as anonymous grievance hotlines.

Social bond principles mirror green bonds: target populations, use of proceeds, and measurable social outcome reporting.

Board duties: duty of care and duty of loyalty; independence, committee structure (audit, risk, remuneration, sustainability), and skills matrix.

Separation of chair and CEO, board diversity, and overboarding limits are common governance quality indicators.

Anti-bribery management: ISO 37001; FCPA prohibits bribery of foreign officials and requires books-and-records accuracy; UK Bribery Act covers commercial bribery too.

Whistleblowing program elements: multiple confidential channels, non-retaliation policy, triage and investigation protocol, and audit committee oversight.

Conflicts of interest: identify, disclose, recuse, or manage; related-party transactions require independent review and disclosure.

Compliance program components: code of conduct, risk assessment, training, third-party due diligence, monitoring, and discipline.

Tax transparency and lobbying disclosure are governance issues; misalignment between climate lobbying and stated climate policy is a common flag.

Data ethics and cybersecurity oversight: board-level accountability, incident response, and privacy compliance (e.g., GDPR lawful basis).

Project charter for green projects should state the environmental objective, baseline, and quantified expected impact (e.g., tCO2e avoided per year).

Additionality: the claimed benefit must exceed business-as-usual; without it, an emission reduction would have happened anyway.

Risk register structure: risk description, cause, consequence, likelihood, impact, score, owner, mitigation, residual risk.

Risk categories for green projects: regulatory/permit, technology performance, weather/resource variability, supply chain, financing, reputational, and measurement risk.

MRV (monitoring, reporting, verification): define metrics, data sources, frequency, QA/QC, and independent verification before claiming outcomes.

Avoided-emissions accounting: baseline scenario, project scenario, leakage (emissions shifted outside the boundary), and permanence/durability of reductions.

Stakeholder engagement plan: identify affected parties, engagement level (inform/consult/involve), timeline, and grievance route.

Green procurement: specify environmental criteria in tender evaluation, verify supplier claims, and include contract KPIs with remedies.