Our certification process is designed with several checks to ensure that projects remain in conformity with Gold Standard rules and requirements for the duration of their project activity.

Gold Standard welcomes complaints from any stakeholder. See below for more information on our grievance process and click here for guidance on how to make a submission.

Open grievances

Closed grievances

grievance
Geris Wind Power Plant

Geris Platform raises a formal complaint against the Geris Wind Power Plant GS3623.

grievance
Potential over-issuance risk from Safe Water Supply projects

As per internal Standard Operating Procedures, the Gold Standard Secretariat regularly conducts quality assurance and control (QA/QC).

grievance
Kikonda carbon tree plantation project

A report titled, “REDD: A Collection of Conflicts, Contradictions and Lies,” alleged that the Kikonda carbon tree plantation project in Uganda has a high level of conflict with the local communities.

grievance
Non-conformity allegations against Çeşme Wind Power Project, Turkey (GS2542)

On 30 April 2019, Madeleine Staaf Kura submitted a letter requesting an official grievance be raised against a registered Gold Standard project - Çeşme Wind Power Project, Turkey (GS ID 2542 – GS Version 2.2).

grievance
Sustainable Deployment of the Lifestraw Family in Rural Kenya GS886

In June 2011, Kevin Starr wrote a blog for the Stanford Social Innovation Review criticising Vestergaard Frandsen ́s approach of using carbon markets to fund the distribution of water filters in the Sustainable Deployment of the Lifestraw Family in Rural Kenya (GS886) project.

grievance
Observations of cookstove project GS824 in Politiken "Climate Deceived" series

In January 2020, Politiken, a news source in Denmark, published a series of articles under the banner "Climate Deceived" that reference a Gold Standard-certified project.

Deregistration

When non-conformities with Gold Standard rules and requirements are not resolved in a reasonable amount of time, the project is deregistered from Gold Standard certification and is no longer permitted to issue and/or trade emission reductions (carbon units).

grievance
Deregistration of project GS3667: Afforestation in the Montreal Metropolitan area.

In March 2020, this A/R project was deregistered from Gold Standard due to a long-standing non-conformity status.

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