Optimising Markets
Digital Measurement, Reporting + Verification (MRV)
Removing barriers to scale: We are working to pilot and scale new ways to monitor impact to get better impact data, more efficiently.
DIGITISING FOR IMPACT
AN OPEN COLLABORATION TO ACCELERATE
DIGITAL SOLUTIONS FOR CLIMATE + DEVELOPMENT
VISION
Driving systems changes in climate and sustainability through next-generation digital solutions and governance innovations designed for scale, interoperability, and equitable system access.
The Open Collaboration for Digitising Impact will design, document, test, and build digital solutions that are: open source, without user fees, low-energy, modular, and with the highest levels of data integrity and security.
Outputs will support proprietary applications and integrate with other digital platforms, hubs, and infrastructure. The Collaboration will foster innovative approaches to standards development, assurance, and governance, as well as new business models that direct revenue to system users and host communities.
IMPACT
- Scaling carbon market volume and impact through digital interoperability, enhanced user efficiency, and new standards governance and MRV models.
- Increasing carbon market integrity through new digital approaches to data security, reporting, tracking, and tokenization.
- Improving carbon market access and equity through system design and innovative business models that channel finance to project developers and local communities.
PHASE 1
In 2022, the Open Collaboration partners secured a grant from Google.org Charitable Giving and launched working groups that will develop principles, knowledge products, and prototypes for transformative next-generation digital solutions.
If you would like more information, contact help@goldstandard.org
WHO'S INVOLVED: WORKING GROUP PARTICIPANTS
DIGITAL MONITORING, REPORTING AND VERIFICATION (MRV)
Develop guidance for standards and methodology developers to incorporate digital requirements to improve data quality and assurance.
PARTICIPANTS
African Clean Energy
American Carbon Registry
BeZero Carbon
Cambridge Centre for Carbon Credits
Carbon Markets and Innovation at World Bank
Clean Cooking Alliance
Climate Neutral Business Network
DG Climate Action, European Commission
DNV Business Assurance
Earth Labs PBC
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
GAIT Global
HBAR Foundation
Just Climate
IETA
Instituto Climainfo
ISEAL
NatureCo
Planet Labs PBC
Producers Trust
Sequestra
Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners
South Pole
SustainCERT
Virridy
World Bank
DIGITAL ASSETS FOR CLIMATE IMPACT
Leverage digital ledger technologies while avoiding perverse incentives, double counting and claiming or other integrity risks.
PARTICIPANTS
American Carbon Registry
ATEC Australia-International Pty Ltd
Bitgreen, Inc
C3 Cayman LTD
Cambridge Centre for Carbon Credits
Climate Collective
Climate Impact Partners
Earthchain Ltd
First Climate
Flowcarbon
FORLIANCE GmbH
Hedera Hashgraph
HNIEE
HSBC
IETA
INFRAS
Instituto Climainfo
Klima DAO
MOSS.EARTH
OffsetFarm
Producers Direct
South Pole
TASC
Thallo
Toucan Protocol
Vertis Environmental Finance
World Bank
Xpansiv
DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND OPEN APIs
Connect ecosystem of market participants while promoting trust, transparency, interoperability and access.
PARTICIPANTS
AlliedOffsets
American Carbon Registry
Bitgreen Inc.
Cambridge Centre for Carbon Credits
Chainlink Labs
Climate Impact Partners
Compania Expertos en Mercados
DNV Business Assurance India Pvt. Ltd
Ecosystem Marketplace
First Climate
GE Digital
GIST
IETA
ISEAL
Nova Institute
Producers Trust
Regrow Ag
South Pole
Spherical
SustainCERT
Toucan protocol
World Bank
Xpansiv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to the support from our partnering organisations.



SDG IMPACT TOOL
MORE IMPACT, BETTER DATA, LESS COMPLEXITY
Credible quantification and reporting of the SDGs allows those funding climate change mitigation activities to transparently communicate to stakeholders the benefits those actions bring to the global community - catalysing more climate action.
Toward this end, Gold Standard has launched a new SDG Impact Tool to help project developers more efficiently monitor, quantify and verify a project's contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Built on principles formed in the SDG Tool Guidance, co-developed with myclimate, Climate Seed, the Swedish Energy Agency, and UN SDSN, this tool provides a standardised template to clearly and transparently monitor SDG impact alongside carbon reductions – making the process more efficient and minimising the cost of Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) for project developers whilst ensuring SDG impact claims remain specific and credible.
We are now working to further automate and digitise the tools to seamlessly integrate them into the standard documents and certification workflows. This will deliver enhanced impact reporting capabilities, including a compelling way to visualise impacts.
The Gold Standard SDG Impact Tool ensures impact claims are quantitative, accurate and credible – maximizing impact while avoiding SDG washing.
The SDG Impact Tool delivers:
- Streamlined MRV, increasing efficiency and reducing costs whilst ensuring SDG impact claims remain accurate and credible
- Contributions to multiple SDG impacts while minimising the extra burden of MRV for project developers and auditor
- Enhanced communication of SDG contributions by having a transparent, standard and, in the next phase, compelling way to visualise the impacts
- Aggregation of SDG impacts for reporting at a portfolio level and comparability within sectors
- Standardised impact indicators and quantification methods to allow for clear comparison of project performance
If you would like more information about this tool and how it can be applied, contact help@goldstandard.org
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank to all those who have contributed to the creation of this tool.

Climate Ledger Initiative
Working with the Climate Ledger Initiative, we are piloting new technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve data quality from the Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) process – improving efficiencies, driving down costs and overcoming barriers to scale. Read more about our use cases in the reports featured below: