Certify a Project

Gold Standard for the Global Goals sets requirements for maximum positive impact in climate and development — and measures and reports outcomes in the most credible and efficient way. The standard customises safeguards, requirements, and methodologies to measure and verify impact on a wide range of activities — from climate protection projects seeking to issue carbon credits or renewable energy labels to corporate supply chain interventions to national/subnational programmes looking for the most credible claims for their impact reporting.

Developers have multiple options for certification: 

  • Originate a project
  • Transition an existing project from the UN CDM or other standards to Gold Standard
  • Certify the sustainable development impacts of a project issued under another standard 

Benefits:

Greater impact + value:

Rigorous safeguards, stakeholder engagement, and methodologies maximise the climate and SDG impacts of your projects. For those issuing environmental commodities like carbon credits, this often leads to price premiums. Gold Standard also offers the ability to calculate the economic value created by your specific project and communicate this impact in compelling

Streamlined project development process: 


Our partnership with SustainCERT, the official certification body for Gold Standard for the Global Goals, is geared to reduce costs and complexities of the certification process, with an aim to fully digitise the certification process by 2020.

Brand reputation: 

Our NGO Supporter Network and strategic partnerships with industry thought leaders helps ensure that we remain the highest standard for climate and development initiatives.

Process to be certified Gold Standard:

PLAN PROJECT AND HOLD STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION Before the project starts, Project Developers should : – Confirm the basic project design – Assess against Gold Standard safeguards – Estimate climate and sustainable development impacts – Prepare a Key Project Information note summarising the above – Hold a Gold Standard Stakeholder Consultation Meeting To start the Gold Standard certification process, projects must open a registry account and pay the annual registry fee of ($1000). See Gold Standard Principles and Requirements for more details PRELIMINARY REVIEW This review checks draft documentation and requests clarifications where required. Projects must: – Submit a completed Stakeholder Consultation Report – Submit Draft Project Design Document (PDD), including: – Safeguarding Principles Assessment – Estimation of climate and sustainable development impacts – Monitoring Plan – Submit signed GS4GG Cover Letter – Submit signed Gold Standard Terms & Conditions PRELIMINARY DESIGN APPROVAL Approval of the Preliminary Review results in GOLD STANDARD PROJECT LISTED status, giving the project the green light to move forward. THIRD-PARTY VALIDATION Independent assessment conducted by an accredited validation and verification body (VVB). This consists of both a desk review and field visit and provides independent confirmation that the project is in line with the Gold Standard Requirements. Projects must: – Have “Gold Standard Project Listed” status – Identify, contract and pay VVB to carry out validation – Find an approved VVB – Provide a fully completed Project Design Document (PDD) and all relevant supporting documentation for VVB validation PROJECT DESIGN REVIEW This phase checks documentation and requests clarifications and resolutions of corrective actions where required. Projects must: – Have a positive validation opinion from VVB – Submit VVB approved Project Design Document (PDD) and all relevant supporting documentation – Submit VVB Final Validation Report DESIGN CERTIFICATION It certifies: – Safeguards are covered by the project design – Stakeholder inclusive design – Robust monitoring plan – Estimated climate and sustainable development impacts – Approval results in GOLD STANDARD DESIGN CERTIFIED status PROJECT MONITORING Project Developer monitors project according to the approved monitoring plan. Projects must: – Continuously engage with stakeholders– Submit Annual Reports in years when verification does not occur – Prepare a Monitoring Report for verification to request issuance of impact statements and/or products THIRD-PARTY VERIFICATION Independent assessment conducted by an accredited validation and verification body (VVB). This consists of both a desk review and field visit and provides independent confirmation that the project and its impacts are in line with the Gold Standard Requirements. Projects must:– Have “Gold Standard Project Design Certified” status– Identify, contract and pay VVB to carry out verification – Provide a fully completed Monitoring Report (MR) and all relevant supporting documentation for VVB verification PERFORMANCE REVIEW This review checks documentation and requests clarifications and resolutions of corrective actions where required. Project must: – Have a positive verification opinion from VVB – Submit VVB approved Monitoring Report and all relevant supporting documentation – Submit VVB Final Verification Report PERFORMANCE CERTIFICATION It certifies: – Adherence to safeguards – Adherence to stakeholder inclusivity – Climate and sustainable development impact achieved – Issuance of certified SDG impact statements and/or products Approval results in CERTIFIED GOLD STANDARD PROJECT status and Gold Standard issuance of certified products and/or impact statements.

Standard Documents

The full list of documentation can be found under standards, the first one to start with is the Principles & Requirements. This provides the principles, including the eligibility criteria, that projects must follow to be certified Gold Standard.

Training + Support

You can find more information about the certification process in the SustanCERT knowledge base, or listen back to the latest training webinars.

SustainCERT Knowledge base
Project Developers’ Webinars
VVB Webinars

Contact

For enquiries related to the certification process and standard documents, please contact help@sustain-cert.com 

For all other enquiries, please contact help@goldstandard.org