media contact[email protected]Gold Standard ,
Press Office
Gold Standard has today announced the launch of a formal process to assess and approve private insurance policies for use by project developers seeking eligibility of Gold Standard Verified Emission Reductions (GS-VERs) under the first phase of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), covering 2024 to 2026.
This move marks a significant step forward in operationalising an important route to credit eligibility under CORSIA, where programmes must ensure that credits used by international aviation operators do not result in double counting with host countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
To address this risk, Gold Standard introduced new rules in 2024 allowing project developers to hold an “Approved Insurance Policy” that provides either replacement credits or financial compensation if host country actions result in a double claim. This approach was intended to support market access while preserving environmental integrity. Today’s announcement will make this route operational, launching a comprehensive assessment process designed to ensure that any private insurance policy used under this mechanism meets strict quality and credibility criteria. Policies approved under this assessment process will join the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency’s breach of contract cover, which was approved in December 2024.
Following a competitive public procurement process, Gold Standard has appointed Howden Group, a leading global insurance intermediary, to manage the assessment of insurance policies submitted for recognition. Howden will oversee the evaluation of submissions from insurance providers against robust criteria established by Gold Standard. Evaluations are expected to commence in the coming weeks.
“To enable climate action for people and nature, we need to broaden access to new and growing markets, including CORSIA,” said Margaret Kim, CEO of Gold Standard. “By recognising insurance policies through a rigorous assessment process and allowing their use to address political risk, we can enable more projects to supply credits for CORSIA's first phase, in a way that is credible, reliable and based on solid foundations.”
Key Features of the Insurance Assessment Process
- Insurance Evaluation Partner: Howden Group will manage assessments of submitted private insurance policies to determine alignment with Gold Standard’s criteria for addressing double counting risk.
- Eligibility Criteria: Policies must provide robust coverage in the event that host governments fail to apply a corresponding adjustment under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
- Policy Transparency: Insurance policies that meet these standards will be added to Gold Standard’s publicly available Approved Insurance Policies list.
- Expert Oversight: Gold Standard is concurrently launching a Request for Proposals (RfP) to appoint independent technical experts to provide quality assurance of assessment outcomes. Proposals are invited by 6 August 2025, 17:00 CET.
- Awareness: Gold Standard will engage actively with insurance companies globally, to ensure broad awareness and jurisdictional coverage of approved policies.
In tandem with this announcement, Gold Standard has also released an updated Deed of Undertaking for GS-VERs eligible under CORSIA Phase 1, including new provisions on insolvency events and Article 6 updates adopted at COP29.
Supporting Scaled Access to CORSIA with Safeguards for Integrity
Gold Standard was approved as an eligible crediting programme for CORSIA in December 2024. Since then, it has provided two routes for project developers to demonstrate compliance with ICAO’s rules on double counting:
1. Submission of evidence that the host country has applied a corresponding adjustment, as reported in its Biennial Transparency Report.
2. Submission of a Deed of Undertaking, backed by an Approved Insurance Policy, committing to replace any units later found to be double claimed.
Gold Standard recognised the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) as an approved insurance option in December 2024. With today’s launch, Gold Standard is enabling more developers to participate in a growing market, while preserving environmental integrity and market confidence.