Home on Open Risk

Using Equinox for Data Center GHG Attribution

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Data Center Methodology Workflow is an attribution and reporting methodology for GHG emissions of data centers. It primarily concerns emissions linked to the purchase of electricity from grids. The workflow shows how to implement the GHG Protocol for Data Centers (See References).

Getting Started with Solstice

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 15:47:20 +0000

In this segment we list a few suggestions of how to get started with Solstice. The platform offers rich functionality so the optimal way to use it will vary for different users.

For non-technical users the best way to access Solstice functionality is probably via the Graphical User Interface.

Getting Started

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 15:47:20 +0000

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.

Using Equinox for Corporate Scope 2 Reporting

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 15:47:20 +0000

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).

Equinox Green Public Procurement Workflow

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 15:47:20 +0000

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.

Solstice Visualizations

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The visualization explorer app aims to provide an overview of the available visualization functionality in a consistent interface.

Its models may be used also by other Solstice GUI apps to create visualizations

Solstice Workflows

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The Solstice Workflow Explorer App enables executing Solstice Workflows via a Web-based GUI

Workflows

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The Results Explorer allows the review (and potential post-processing) of stored calculation results.

Equinox CAPMF Workflows

Wed, 25 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The CAPMF Workflow concerns the ingestion, organization and use of OECD Climate Action and Policy Data (See References).

Equinox CIRIS Workflows

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 15:47:20 +0000

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).

Equinox PCAF Mortgage Workflow

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 15:47:20 +0000

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.

Equinox Equator Principles Workflows

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 15:47:20 +0000

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.

PCAF Project Finance

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 15:47:20 +0000

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

Concepts

Sat, 17 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

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 a growing range of sustainable finance and portfolio management applications.

Solstice Workflows

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 15:47:20 +0000

QUOTE: Solstice is still in active development. The functionality of the platform will be significantly enhanced in future versions. If you have specific requests / ideas please raise them in our GitHub repository.

Equinox GHG Protocol Project Workflow

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 15:47:20 +0000

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.

Data Types

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

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.

Pages, Workflows and Playbooks

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Users access and make use of Equinox through a number of “pages” that work similar to most web applications.

Emission Factor Selection

Thu, 02 Jun 2022 15:47:20 +0000

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.

Equinox EBA Scorecard Workflows

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 15:47:20 +0000

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

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 15:47:20 +0000

Portfolio Policies are an important component of modern portfolio management. Having an overview of applicable policies, how they evolved over time and what impact they have is not trivial. The Equinox Policy app aims to help with associated tasks.

Equinox Portfolio App

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 15:47:20 +0000

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 Risk Data

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 15:47:20 +0000

The Equinox Risk app is the primary means to apply risk analytics and models to the portfolio.

Adopted Standards and Further References

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 15:47:20 +0000

Sustainable Finance Standards

The sustainability related standards currently adopted / implemented in Equinox are based principally on the following references:

GHG Protocol Standards

The GHG Protocol for Projects (The GHG Protocol for Project Accounting, 2005)
GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance (An amendment to the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, 2015)
Fong, W. K., M. Sotos, M. Doust, S. Schultz, A. Marques, and C. Deng-Beck (2014). Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories: An Accounting and Reporting Standard for Cities. World Resources Institute. C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group; Local Governments for Sustainability ICLEI. 1, 1–176.

PCAF Standards

PCAF Emissions Accounting and Reporting for Residential Mortgages
PCAF Emissions Accounting and Reporting for Project Finance

Other Sustainable Finance

Equator Principles for Project Finance
OECD Climate Actions and Policies Database

Regulatory Standards and Other Resources

BIS/EBA Standardized Credit Risk assessment of Project Finance
The EFDB Database
The TED Database

Open Risk White Papers

The following Open Risk White Papers provide conceptual context or other implementation details underpinning the Equinox platform.

The Sustainability Challenge

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 15:47:20 +0000

The Sustainability Challenge

Sustainability, understood broadly in its environmental, economic and social dimensions, is emerging as the undisputed constraint that shapes future human economic activities.It specifically shapes how the financial system facilitates, shapes and empowers economic life leading to the concept of Sustainable Finance.

Developing tools and methodologies that improve the ability of all stakeholders to assess and report risks in sustainable finance context is an important and timely objective.

Open Risk joins the Digital4Sustainability Alliance community

Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

About the Digital4Sustainability project

Digital4Sustainability (D4S) is a project funded under the EU’s Erasmus+ programme¹. The project is dedicated to accelerating the digital and green transitions (the so-called twin transition²), both within the ICT sector and across European industries. The consortium includes digital and sustainability experts, business associations, universities, and Vocational Education and Training (VET) providers from across Europe.

Open Risk recently joined the Digital4Sustainability Alliance community and this blog post explains the what and why.

Developing a crowdsourced database of European Data Centers - assessing data quality

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The euroDace project is a new geospatial database of European data centers that we launched recently. In this post we explore a first set of data quality challenges towards developing a more comprehensive and robust data center information database, with an eye towards inferring environmental impact footprints.

EuroDaCe - the European Data Center Database

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

All data centers currently recorded in the EuroDaCe database are displayed on the map above. Yellow markers indicate a data center when only a point location is known. Blue markers indicate that the spatial contour of the data center facility (or the site it is located) is also known. Zooming in and clicking on any feature displays the data center name (if its known).