For any projects still under review with SustainCERT as of 30 April 2025, the projects will be automatically migrated to the Gold Standard Assurance Platform under the request status ‘In Preparation’. We anticipate this process to take up to one week for Gold Standard to complete. Once migration has been completed, the following actions will be required.
From 07 May 2025, Project Developers will be required to:
- Access the Gold Standard Assurance Platform and review the related request(s)
(Note: for those project developers that have not yet registered for an account within the Assurance Platform, you may do so by submitting this Account Request Form). - Upload any other necessary documentation
(Note: all documentation provided by SustainCERT should already be migrated and included within the request). - Assign the VVB if necessary
(Note: unfortunately, assignments cannot be migrated so a VVB may need to be reassigned). - Once the project developer is happy all information is correct the request should be submitted within the Gold Standard Assurance Platform.
If a VVB is assigned, the VVB will be required to:
- Access and review any related requests submitted by project developers – this is to ensure the request has migrated appropriately.
- Upload any other necessary documentation (if required/applicable).
- Once all information is verified as correct, the request should be submitted by the VVB to Gold Standard within the Assurance Platform.
On submission of a request from a VVB, Gold Standard will:
- Review and ensure the migration is complete and successful.
- If a review is required, a Reviewer will be assigned, and the project status will be set to ‘In Progress’. Reviewers will aim to follow the timelines as per the updated requirements.
- If a review is not required at this stage, the request will be passed back to the VVB/Project Developer to submit any relevant clarifications/corrective actions.
OTHER UPDATES & CONSIDERATIONS
Rounds of Review
The migration does not include the number of review rounds. Projects transitioned from SustainCERT will be treated within the Gold Standard Assurance Platform as if they are in the first round review. This means:
- The round of review due date may not reflect the same dates as per the SustainCERT app if the review is in second round or above. If you have concerns about this impacting your project, please reach out to help@goldstandard.org
- The number will only reflect the number of rounds of review the request has gone through within the Gold Standard Assurance Platform. It will not reflect any review rounds that took place within SustainCERT.
- NOTE: The review will continue from its current status rather than starting over, while reviewers may add new clarifying questions as needed. The round number is therefore just for reference.
Data Migration
- For Energy projects, all data will be automatically migrated, there is no action required for project developers.
- For LUF projects, all data will be migrated. However, due to documentation not having been stored within the SustainCERT app, the migration process will be manual and therefore is expected to take more time. If you have any questions regarding how this process may impact your project, please reach out to help@goldstandard.org for more information.
Fees
- As fees have already been paid for projects under review with SustainCERT, there will be no additional cost associated with this transition.
Rewiew timelines
- We have increased internal capacity and added more external reviewers to help mitigate any impact from open reviews transitioning to Gold Standard. It is however still possible that timelines may be slightly impacted for the next couple of months.
Global Consultation
- Since these requests were submitted prior to the rule update, the request will not be submitted for public global consultation.
There is no action required for projects that have already transitioned and are completing reviews within the new Gold Standard Assurance Platform.
If you have any questions or require any support with regards to this transition phase, please do not hesitate to reach out to help@goldstandard.org and the team will be ready and available to support you.