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Digital Report - immediate delivery to your email.

Date of Publishing: 2021.
No. of Pages:  4.

The green loan market aims to facilitate and support environmentally sustainable economic activity. The Green Loan Principles (GLP) have been developed by an experienced working party, consisting of representatives from leading financial institutions active in the global syndicated loan markets, with a view to promoting the development and integrity of the green loan product.

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Contents:

 1. Introduction.
 2. Green Loan Definition.
 3. Green Loan Principles – Core Components. 
 3.1. Use of Proceeds.
 3.2. Process for Project Evaluation and Selection.
 3.3. Management of Proceeds.
 3.4. Reporting.

 4. Review.

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Digital Report - immediate delivery to your email.

Date of Publishing: 2025.
No. of Pages: 11.

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Table of Contents:
1. Introduction.   

2. Fundamentals.
A. Is there a definition of green loans? 
B. What are the advantages of entering a green loan?
C. Who can borrow a green loan?
D. What is the difference between green/social loans and sustainability-linked loans?
E. What is the difference between green loans and blue loans? 
F. Can a loan follow a combination of the GLP, the SLP and/or the SLLP?
G. How do the GLP incorporate ESG considerations? 
H. How do the GLP fit with their bond counterparts? 
I. Can a green loan be entered into by a borrower at the start of their transition journey i.e., borrowers not yet able to claim alignment with the Paris Agreement, but taking ambitious steps in that direction?
J. Can ‘pure play’ companies enter into green loans? Are all loans entered into by pure play companies automatically green loans?                                           

3. Green Loan Principles.
A. Green loan definition.
I. Can a revolving credit facility (RCF) be a green loan?
II. Can a revolving loan be recognized as green if the borrower does not have a designated eligible Green Project at the time of entering into the loan?
III. Refinancing of Projects.
a) How can borrowers be transparent about the age of refinanced assets?
b) Can eligible assets be refinanced with the proceeds of a green loan before the original borrowing has matured?
c) Can long-dated green assets be (re)financed by (multiple) consecutive green loans?
d) Can existing assets that are pledged as collateral against another borrowing be refinanced through a green loan?
B. Core components.
I. Use of proceeds.
a) If a tranche of a loan is green, is the whole loan deemed green?
b) Is disclosure of use of proceeds mandatory? 
c) Are intangible assets or expenditures (such as training, monitoring, research & development and finance cost) also eligible for green loan financing?

d) When a loan finances projects that have both social and environmental benefits, such as sustainable social housing, sustainable public transport and access to clean water, can the borrower freely choose the designation of the loan as either a green or social loan?

e) Can a borrower enter into ‘theme’ loans focusing only on one category out of a more general green, social and SLL framework?

f) Do all green loans have to be climate-related?

g) Is there an eligible Green Project category in the GLP, which would consider carbon offsetting?

II. Process for project evaluation and selection.

a) What standards might be referred to in determining whether a loan is green?

b) The GLP states that a borrower shall clearly communicate “the processes by which the borrower identifies and manages perceived, actual or potential environmental and social risks associated with the relevant project(s)”. What is expected of borrowers in this regard c) Can a green loan be made to a borrower that has low ESG ratings, exposure to controversial sustainability issues or sectors/technologies (such as fossil fuels or nuclear energy)?

III. Management of Proceeds.

a) How should you deal with surplus money arising when green loan proceeds exceed green projects?

IV. Reporting.

a) How are metrics chosen to report on the environmental impact or efficiency of projects? b) How often and for how long should a borrower be expected to report on green loans

c) Is there a standard methodology for reporting on the impact of the loan proceeds?

d) How should a borrower report impact for projects where the borrower has provided only partial financing?

e) Should a borrower report on actual and/or estimated impact?

C. Review.

I. What is an external review and why is it required?

II. Does a new external review need to be issued on a refinancing?                   

III. Do self-certified loans need to be externally reviewed before they are compared/ranked against other loans (e.g. league tables)?

D. Documentation.

I. What green clauses should be included in loan documents?________________________________________________________________________________________________