Q. Why did you decide to join the Gold Standard Board of Directors?

Bringing together climate action with the Sustainable Development Goals is the only way of solving the climate issue. Gold Standard has been innovative in recognising this early and bringing forward a concrete solution to facilitate action on the ground. From what I have seen from both the policy and the research angle, it’s clear that the possibility to prove this on the ground through certification is a possible game changer and it would be wonderful to be part of this important work.

Q. What is the most important problem Gold Standard can help solve?

Everyone, from international negotiators to local organisations, is struggling with the challenge of integrating the social and economic development needs with the present climate limits. We’re all learning from each other. Gold Standard is already looking at both issues together and involving society in finding solutions.  With more than 1,300 projects around the world, Gold Standard is already proving that it’s possible to address climate change and contribute to sustainable development in tandem.

Q. How can your experience help Gold Standard realise its vision of “climate security and sustainable development for all”?

I hope my long experience on the governance and my perspective as a Brazilian would be helpful to Gold Standard. I’m committed to help ensure that Gold Standard’s already strong governance remains so as its scope expands to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Indeed, it’s clear that SDGs and climate action relate to all countries, from South to North. But the challenges for developing versus developed countries are quite different and as a Brazilian I feel it is key for us to highlight these differences. Rather than solving a climate problem, the priorities for many countries in the South are to ensure access to health and sanitation, improve education, develop infrastructure, etc. By linking climate and development, we can bring a new pattern of development to countries in the South. I’m most interested in making climate action an opportunity for developing countries. 

Q. How has your relationship with Gold Standard evolved over the years?

Thanks to financial support from WWF, who founded Gold Standard in 2003, I had the opportunity to join Gold Standard as Technical Director in the early days of its inception, working in a small team of passionate people who were convinced from the outset that action to address climate change should go hand-in-hand with delivering sustainable development. I then enjoyed six years of fast-pace and instrumental work in promoting standardisation, robustness and credibility in the voluntary carbon market, together with talented international colleagues and under the guidance of the Technical Advisory Committee.

When the time came for me to pursue new challenges with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, I was fortunate enough to remain part of the 'Gold Standard family' as a member of its Technical Advisory Committee. Now, by joining the Board of Directors, I have closed the loop and am pleased to have had the chance to contribute to a wide spectrum of functions – from operational to strategic - within the organisation.

Q. How has Gold Standard evolved over the years?

When I first started with Gold Standard, our portfolio comprised no more than 25 or so projects. Demand for Gold Standard was, however, very high thanks to the active promotion of the standard and its added value by our NGO supporters. In order to keep up with this demand, while protecting the rigorous quality and safeguards associated with our projects, we had to focus heavily on building capacity among project developers and auditors. We now have well over 1,000 projects around the world, all of which deliver multiple benefits beyond reducing emissions. The voluntary Gold Standard has also evolved into a very useful platform on which to test innovative approaches and methodologies in the field and we are delighted that some of these have been adopted in the compliance market or have inspired initiatives elsewhere.

Q. What problem do you see Gold Standard helping to solve in the future?

The year 2015 was a unique moment, with the convergence of three major international negotiation processes around climate change, the SDGs, and disaster risk reduction. Low carbon, climate resilient development pathways rely on actions at the intersection of these three frameworks.

Moving forward, words need to be converted into action in the field. Non-state actors – including civil society, NGOs and the private sector – have a key role to play in converting national commitments into a workable plan of action, leading to meaningful outcomes and impacts. However, they will need tools and support to achieve this. Building on more than 10 years of monitoring and evaluating sustainable outcomes from projects in the field, the Gold Standard can deliver some of these tools in collaboration with other leading organisations. In this context, our new standard, Gold Standard for the Global Goals, is a major step forward. 

Q. Why did you decide to become a Senior Advisor to Gold Standard?

The German Ministry for the Environment has supported Gold Standard from the beginning and we have closely followed the development of Gold Standard Foundation. I hope to be able to advise Gold Standard on our priorities and ideas concerning the development of the carbon market,  including the voluntary market. On a personal level, I am looking forward to interesting and fruitful discussions to shape the future of the standard. I see my role as Senior Advisor as an independent role, acting in my personal capacity to give advice without participating in the decision-making process of Gold Standard. This provides me with the welcome opportunity to provide input and participate in debates, without being partisan.

Q. What role do you see for sustainable development in post-Paris carbon markets?

Generally, carbon market activities should contribute to sustainable development. International cooperation, including the transfer of mitigation outcomes, should promote sustainable development.

Interestingly, sustainable development is mentioned 22 times in the Paris Agreement and, by comparison, three times in the Kyoto Protocol. All three kinds of cooperative approaches in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement refer to sustainable development. Thus, the role of sustainable development is strong in the Paris Agreement. However, it remains to be decided, how the concept can and will be operationalised. 

Q. What challenges do you see Gold Standard helping to solve?

If and when the carbon market is not purely a market for CO2-equivalent reductions as such, but also a market that looks at their quality beyond emissions reductions, buyers need standards and certificates to help them choose and find the (high) quality they are interested in. Gold Standard can help make co-benefits visible, helping buyers make informed choices, and it also helps to make those benefits more visible for a wider public.

How has your relationship with Gold Standard evolved over the years?

When we started the Gold Standard Foundation it was mainly to address the criteria we felt were missing from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism. We were inspired by the quest for "high quality decarbonisation." Our concern was that, despite reducing emissions, projects that generated carbon credits could damage other important values such as social inclusion, biodiversity or water. Through our rigorous standard, we have addressed these issues and, today, Gold Standard projects contribute to sustainable development in multiple ways. With growing recognition, the Gold Standard Foundation has become a sought-after partner for other actors in the sustainability field. A key task of the Board is now to ensure we pick the most credible and effective external collaborators, for example from the investor, NGO and project developer community.

How has Gold Standard evolved over that time?

Over the years, our offer has become more and more sophisticated, and we have extended our reach in to more complex markets, such as land use and forestry. In recent years, the Gold Standard has started to apply its knowledge to other fields, but we have always remained grounded in traditional carbon markets – the area where we are widely recognised for setting the benchmark.

What problem do you see Gold Standard helping to solve in the future?

With our new standard, Gold Standard for the Global Goals, impact assessment beyond market-based approaches has become a key component of the Foundation's offer. This new field plays a pivotal role in informing the decisions of a multitude of stakeholders. As in the beginning, it is a key role of the Gold Standard to help avoid what we used to call "hot air" and would name "green washing" today.