Climate Week 2020 Quiz

1. Each environmental journey has to start somewhere. The Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 is the first legally binding agreement offering a global response to combat climate change.  What ambitious temperature goals are set by the Paris Agreement?

• Limit global temperatures from rising above the preindustrial temperature levels by 1.5°C and pursue efforts to limit global temperature increases to 2°C above preindustrial levels
• Achieve a temperature level range between 36.5°C and 37.8°C
• Limit global temperatures from rising above the preindustrial temperature levels by 2°C and pursue efforts to limit global temperature increases to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels
• Convert all temperature levels from Fahrenheit to Celsius

2. The members of the United Nations have adopted a plan to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all, the 2030 Agenda. At the centre of the 2030 Agenda are the so-called Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs. How many SDGs are there in total?

• 5
• 169
• 30
• 17

3. The European Union seems to be ahead of the game in legal and regulatory efforts towards transitioning to a low-carbon economy. The European Commission revealed in 2018 an action plan on financing sustainable growth. At the heart of this plan is the Taxonomy, a recurring word these days in Jones Day’s ESG publications, but what exactly is the Taxonomy?
 

• A classification system for climate change-related disputes
• A classification system for environmentally sustainable economic activities
• A system organizing laws on value-added tax
• A tool calculating global greenhouse gas emissions by sector

4. If your word is your bond, your green word shall be your green bond. Green bonds have helped raise awareness around climate change in both issuer and investor spheres in the last decade. You might have heard of the Green Bond Principles of the International Capital Markets Association, which are voluntary process guidelines used in the green bond market. Can you name the four components of the Green Bond Principles?

• 1. Use of proceeds; 2. Process for Project Evaluation and Selection; 3. Management of Proceeds; 4. Reporting
• 1. Liberty; 2. Equality; 3. Diversity; 4. Unity
• 1. Green Issuer; 2. Green Investors; 3. Green Money; 4. Greenwashing
• 1. EU Taxonomy aligned use of proceeds; 2. Green Bond Framework; 3. Reporting; 4. External Verification

5. We just mentioned the term “Green Bond Framework” in one of the possible answers to question 4.  What exactly is a Green Bond Framework?
 

• A green square frame to protect old bond certificates
• An external certification of a green bond issuance
• A document outlining the issuer’s overall green, strategy, and green bond strategy including the proposed use of proceeds, a description of eligible green projects or categories of projects to be financed, the management of the proceeds and the reporting
• A supporting structure around which green buildings are built

6. What if we tell you that you can issue bonds for general corporate purposes while contributing to sustainability?  Sustainability-linked bonds are forward-looking performance-based instruments developed by the market in late 2019. In June 2020, the International Capital Market Association has published the Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles. What is in your opinion a sustainability-linked bond?

• A bond the proceeds of which will be used to finance or refinance a combination of both green and social projects
• A bond for which the financial and/or structural characteristics can vary pursuant to predefined sustainability objectives
• A bond the proceeds of which will be used to finance or refinance green projects
• A bond the proceeds of which will be used to finance or refinance social projects

7. To classify what is green, one should have reliable tools to measure the “greenness” of a project or endeavor. Two new categories of climate-related benchmarks have been introduced recently in Europe.  What are these two new categories?
 

• ESGBs (Environmental Social Governance Benchmarks) and SRIBs (Socially Responsible Investment Benchmarks)
• Good Benchmarks and Bad Benchmarks
• CTB (Climate Transition Benchmarks) and PAB (Paris-Aligned Benchmarks)
• IBORs (Interbank offered rates) and RFRs (risk-free rates)