Suggestions on how to get started with Equinox
In this segment of the Equinox User Documentation we list a few suggestions of how to get started using Equinox. The platform offers rich functionality that can be combined in various ways. What is relevant and optimal will vary for different users and their use context.
The Corporate Scope 2 Methodology Workflow is an attribution and reporting methodology for certain types of indirect GHG emissions of organizations (typically companies), primarily emissions linked to the purchase of electricity from grids. The workflow shows how to implement the GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance (2015) (See References).
Europe’s public authorities are major consumers of goods and services via the public procurement process. By using their purchasing power to choose environmentally friendly goods, services and works, they can make an important contribution to sustainable consumption and production - what is called Green Public Procurement (GPP) or green purchasing. GPP is a voluntary instrument, not a legal standard, but has a key role to play in the EU’s efforts to become a more resource-efficient economy. To be effective, GPP requires the inclusion of clear and verifiable environmental criteria for products and services in the public procurement process. In Equinox we aim to support GPP by integrating the de-facto standard data models and ontologies of the TED platform into sustainable portfolio workflows.
The CIRIS/GPC Methodology Workflow is an attribution and reporting methodology for the GHG emissions of Municipalities / Cities. It implements the GPC Recommendations for Community-Scale emissions accounting (See References).
The Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials proposed methodologies (The Global GHG Accounting and Reporting Standard for the Financial Industry, PCAF, 2020) for attributing GHG Emissions to diverse financial contracts. One of the currently developed asset classes concerns Mortgage portfolios. The methodology as implemented in Equinox is documented below.
A group of workflows implemented in Equinox revolve around the Equator Principles . The Equator Principles is a (voluntary) risk management framework, developed and adopted by financial institutions for determining, assessing and managing environmental and social risk in projects (Project Finance ). It is primarily intended to provide a minimum standard for due diligence and monitoring to support responsible risk decision-making.
The Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials proposed methodologies (PCAF (2020), The Global GHG Accounting and Reporting Standard for the Financial Industry.) for attributing GHG Emissions to diverse financial contracts.
The workflows for PCAF methodologies implemented in Equinox are documented below. For the methodologies themselves consult the corresponding PCAF documentation or the Open Risk Manual Entries
Conceptual Equinox building blocks and how they can be used
Equinox uses a number of flexible abstractions (data models) that different workflows may compose and use in slightly different ways. This design allows flexibility towards implementing the growing range of sustainable finance and portfolio management applications.
The GHG Project Workflow is structured around the recommendations of the GHG Protocol for Projects. The Project concept and data model holds data for any (generic) sustainability Project (irrespective of physical attributes, financial attributes or contractual nature). A GHG project is any well-defined set of actions that intentionally leads to a modification of the GHG emissions profile of a physical asset or collection of assets.
The main data categories that users can handle in Equinox
The Equinox platform uses at its backend a powerful database that supports storing a variety of data formats. This versatility is essential if one is to work with diverse data sources to obtain a holistic view of “ground truth”. Here we discuss three important sub-categories that are used throughout the platform.
The equinox user interface and its main pages
Users access and make use of Equinox through a number of “pages” that work similar to most web applications.
Illustration of working with a copy of the IPCC Emission Factors Database
The integration of the IPCC EFDB Database into Equinox is described in the Reference Data Section of the Equinox User Manual (See Reference Data). Here we illustrate a basic workflow that helps search for and retrieve relevant emission factor (EF) data.
Project Finance Credit Risk Analysis may involve arbitrarily complicated tools and risk models, depending on the nature, size and complexity of the project being financed. As a common denominator, regulatory frameworks starting with Basel II Specialized Lending articulate a simplified (standardized scorecard). This Workflow discusses how Equinox provides a simplified workflow to implement a standardized scorecard workflow.
Equinox Policy App
This page provides information about the Equinox Policy Data module that helps collect and work with portfolio policy data. The app an interactive, visual web application (dashboard).
Equinox Portfolio App
The Portfolio App is the central app that provides the scaffolding for most other functionality provided by Equinox. At its core it is a uniform interface to the portfolio data.
Equinox Reference App
Reference data play an important role in sustainable portfolio management as they bring in and integrate new and granular information sources that were not previously used. Equinox aims to facilitate integrating relevant open data towards meeting portfolio management objectives.
Equinox aims to integrate in the database a number reference databases that facilitate tasks of sustainable portfolio management. In the current focus such reference material concerns the emissions factors for various processes and activities.
Equinox Reporting App
The Equinox Reporting app is where users can configure and obtain a variety of reports about the Portolio.
Equinox Risk App
The Equinox Risk app is the primary means to apply risk analytics and models to the portfolio.