Gold Standard Values
PIONEERING
RIGOROUS
COLLABORATIVE
TRANSPARENT
Gold Standard Principles
All our projects contribute to climate security and sustainable development. They adhere to the following principles to maximise project performance:
CLIMATE SECURITY + SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT is core to all projects
Climate security and sustainable development are central to Gold Standard from start to finish. This takes the form of different requirements in the design, process and performance of projects.
SAFEGUARDING PRINCIPLES
Rigorous social, economic, environmental + ecological SAFEGUARDIG PRINCIPLES
Safeguards ensure that projects deliver real (additional) GHG emissions reductions and do no harm to local communities and ecosystems. Gold Standard for the Global Goals now reflects several enhancements in our safeguarding requirements:
- Gender (SDG 5) was identified as an important cross-cutting issue as women suffer the worst effects of climate change but often have the fewest resources to combat it. Women are also the gatekeepers who help ensure project success and amplify positive impacts for their entire families and communities. As a result, the opportunity for men and women to participate equally must be central to the design of any Gold Standard project.
- Water (SDG 6) has been named the single biggest risk the world faces today, which is only exacerbated by changing weather patterns. At the same time, a number of important climate and development interventions, like forestry, agricultural or even renewable energy projects, can unintentionally reduce or restrict water access if risks are not properly managed. Gold Standard has enhanced its safeguards to ensure this is mitigated.
HOLISTIC DESIGN to manage tradeoffs
The tremendous ambition of limiting global warming to well below 2°C and the interconnected nature of the 17 Global Goals requires holistic and ambitious project design to identify cross-cutting opportunities that can have powerful amplification effects, like empowering women or lifting families out of poverty. A holistic approach also helps prevent unintended impacts, so that a forest isn’t planted only to threaten downstream water access, or that improving crop yields doesn’t mean introducing chemicals that harm local biodiversity. These safeguards are fundamental to project success and critical for all involved – local stakeholders, project developers, and funders alike.
Involve ALL relevant STAKEHOLDERS
In Gold Standard for the Global Goals projects, local stakeholders must be at the center of any activity that affects them. There are tailored recommendations for stakeholder consultation depending on the context and scale of a project. For example, Sustainable Urban Development gives specific guidance on engaging the complex network of city officials, businesses, civil society, and city residents; community projects have requirements about how to ensure that remote or disenfranchised members of a region or village have voice and agency in the project.
MULTIPLE SDGs
Demonstration of real outcomes towards MULTIPLE SDGs (Climate Security SDG 13 + two additional SDGs)
Once the sustainable development provisions are firmly entrenched in the project design and processes, a project is able to measure its performance in SDG terms. But because focusing on one single metric will not position us to achieve that ambitious global agenda, all Gold Standard certified projects must deliver impact toward climate security – SDG 13 – as well as two additional SDGs.
Follow BEST PRACTICE standards development
Gold Standard is on track to become a full ISEAL member. Accordingly, the standard will undergo regularly scheduled upgrades to ensure that requirements for safeguards, stakeholder engagement, and impact monitoring and quantification reflect the latest thinking on best practice.
ADDITIONALITY
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Use enhanced TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS, including Gold Standard IQ tm
Anyone, anywhere can view all the information and documentation around Gold Standard projects in our public registry. We are also working to develop next-generation technology solutions, including Gold Standard IQTM, a next-generation Impact Quantification system designed to dramatically reduce project development time and costs while improving ability to demonstrate impacts.
Project Certification Process
Gold Standard for the Global Goals is known as the benchmark standard for climate + development interventions because of its rigourous approach that requires local stakeholder inclusivity, adherence to social and environmental safeguards, and continuous monitoring, reporting and verification of impact.
PROJECT INCEPTION
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STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
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PROJECT SUBMISSION
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PROJECT VALIDATION
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PROJECT DESIGN CERTIFICATION
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PROJECT MONITORING
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Duis diam dui, auctor sit amet commodo vitae, commodo vel purus. Praesent sit amet nisl mollis, tempor dui id, congue ante. Etiam dictum leo at mattis scelerisque. Aenean pharetra, eros et venenatis commodo, nunc mauris posuere ligula, non vulputate est justo vel tortor. In sit amet sodales mi. Ut mattis augue lorem, eu mattis neque blandit id. Morbi et venenatis elit, eget pretium tortor. Cras nisl felis, faucibus et urna in, tincidunt vulputate urna.
REPORT
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