Gold Standard was founded on the principle that climate action cannot be one-dimensional - climate projects must deliver meaningful sustainable development benefits beyond emission reductions. The success of our approach has influenced both the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and other voluntary standards to raise the bar and include sustainable development within some of their climate projects. This all helps deliver on our mission to catalyse more ambitious climate action to achieve the Global Goals.

Gold Standard-certified projects have created over $20.5 Billion in shared value for climate action + sustainable development.

Interested in the value created by the Gold Standard carbon credits you've purchased? The figures below provide the shared value created per carbon credit for some of our different project types. 

To see how these shared value figures are calculated, refer to these research studies led by environmental economists:  

• Valuating the benefits of improved cooking solutions, Vivid Economics
• The real value of robust climate action, Net Balance