Drawing on 17+ years’ experience in sustainable development impact assessment for carbon and climate finance, Gold Standard is uniquely positioned to support governments in attracting private finance to comply with the Paris Agreement and deliver on the Sustainable Development Agenda and to help impact investors de-risk funds, providing the assurance they need to credible measure and report on impact investments.

NATIONAL IMPACT MEASUREMENT DESIGNED FOR CLIMATE FINANCE
 

Gold Standard supports countries in accessing climate + development finance to deliver progress toward the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. Using the principles of Gold Standard for the Global Goals, which include stakeholder inclusivity, strong safeguards, multiple SDG contributions and robust quantification, Gold Standard can support the development of an integrated Measuring Reporting and Verification (MRV) framework, customised for an individual country’s needs.

The Paris Agreement indicates a political change towards an enhanced focus on sustainable development as a means to raise ambition for climate mitigation. This is a change away from the Kyoto Protocol era, where sustainable development was mentioned to reassure Parties that climate mitigation should not conflict with development aspirations.

MITIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE AND STRENGTHEN COMMUNITY RESILIENCE PROJECTS 
 

The Subnational Climate Finance (SCF) initiative is a global, $750 million blended finance fund designed to catalyse investment in climate projects and nature-based solutions at subnational level.

SCF, a consortium of Pegasus Capital Advisors, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Green Climate Fund, R20 – Regions of Climate Action, BNP Paribas, and Gold Standard, will partner with public and private investors to identify, finance, develop, and implement a pipeline of subnational projects ($5-$75 million), aligned with host country NDCs. This blended finance approach is intended to mitigate risk to private investors at the fund level, thereby bridging the gap between public and private investors. The fund and project impacts will be certified Gold Standard.

To find out more about this programme of work, please contact Rafaella.Infanti@goldstandard.org

IMPACT REPORTING OR MONETIZATION

Impact certification can fulfill different needs. A funder can seek impact certification of a programme, portfolio or fund to credibly quantify and report the contributions delivered toward climate and development.

Alternatively, an investor or partner can monetise their impacts, such as issuing carbon credits or renewable energy certificates for trading. To do this, they must follow further requirements (e.g. demonstrate additionality in the case of carbon credits) and globally accepted methodologies to be eligible under relevant environmental markets.

With either approach, funders, investors and the projects they support are assured to have made meaningful, verified contributions to a more climate-secure and sustainable world.

IMPACT FUND CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS PILOT

New impact requirements have been developed by Gold Standard to support funds in measuring, managing and maximising the sustainable development impact of its investments. Applications are now being accepted from fund managers interested in taking part in the pilot of the requirements. 

Find out more here.

The Fund Requirements Registry is a publicly available repository of all Funds and Portfolios applying the Gold Standard Fund Requirements. This ensures that all Funds, Portfolios and their impacts are visible in the public domain throughout every stage of the Gold Standard assurance cycle.


View the Registry here.