This sector-agnostic framework ensures that carbon finance does not inadvertently prolong emissions-intensive technologies or monopolise natural resources. To balance environmental integrity with accessibility, the tool introduces a bifurcated pathway. This approach reduces prohibitive transaction costs for small-scale developers while maintaining rigorous assessments for large-scale infrastructure. It ensures that all projects, from clean cooking to engineered removals, align with a low-carbon future without creating unnecessary administrative hurdles.
Key Features:
- The tool introduces Track A (Fast-Track), a streamlined assessment for low-risk, microscale, or decentralised activities like household solar and clean cooking.
- It establishes Track B (Project-level assessment), a comprehensive 4-step framework for large-scale infrastructure and land-use projects.
- The framework requires rigorously contextualised GHG intensity benchmarking and resource efficiency assessments for high-impact activities.
- For approved PACM methodologies, developers retain the flexibility to use either the PACM approach or this new tool.
Gold Standard invites feedback from stakeholders:
- Does the bifurcation between Track A and Track B effectively balance integrity with the need to minimise transaction costs?
- Are the default technical and operational lifetimes for mitigation technologies in Annex A appropriate and conservative?
- Are the decentralised technologies in the "Lock-in Safe" Positive List and the microscale thresholds appropriate to prevent macroeconomic lock-in?
- Do the path dependency macro-indicators (e.g., LDC status, electrification rates) effectively account for regional constraints?
- Are the Regional Best Available Technology (BAT) benchmarks robust enough to prevent project-level crowding out of critical resources?
Gold Standard welcomes feedback until 14 May 2026.