The global pandemic has taught us all to be more flexible and creative with the use of technology. Learning from recent experience, Gold Standard has developed new requirements and guidelines for site visits and remote auditing techniques to help maintain integrity of the assurance process while streamlining processes and reducing travel and its associated climate impact where it is not explicitly needed.
The consultation consists of the Site Visit Remote Audit Requirements v.0.9, which outlines the minimum requirements for physical site visits, the series of safeguards to ensure that remote audit techniques deliver the same or better quality, and a template to report on the Audit Techniques (Annex 3). The document and the corresponding audit template apply to all audits for standalone energy projects. These requirements will be expanded for Programme of Activities (PoAs) and Land Use and Forests projects in the coming months.
Gold Standard is committed to closely observing the experience of Validation/Verification Bodies (VVBs) and project developers as well as developments in remote audit technologies and applications, and to providing further guidance and support in due course.
We welcome your insights on these new requirements and the template during this 6-week consultation period, as well as ongoing feedback after each audit through the Audit Techniques Template (Annex 3).