Project Standards

The Gold Standard is the world’s highest quality standard for carbon emission reduction projects with added sustainable development benefits and guaranteed environmental integrity.

The Gold Standard label certifies projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (GS CER credits) as well as for the voluntary offset market (GS VER credits). GS projects employ renewable energy or energy efficiency technologies and actively seek local participation in project design, resulting in demonstrable sustainable development benefits.

The Gold Standard established a registry in March 2008 to create, track and enable trade of GS VERs and CERs. Numerous publicly accessible reports create utmost transparency on more than 200 GS projects in over 30 countries.

The Gold Standard is officially endorsed by 42 non-governmental organizations, including
WWF and Greenpeace. GS projects generate premium prices in the market and developers
profit from a fair priced niche market with substantial demand currently growing. Buyers of GS
credits reduce CDM-specific and reputational risks. First Climate is a main sponsor of the Gold Standard Version 2.

Launched in November 2007, the VCS marks the end of a two year consultation with the industry, NGOs and carbon market specialists. Led by The Climate Group, the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the VCS provides a robust, global standard for voluntary offset projects. It ensures that carbon offsets can be trusted and have real environmental benefits.

The VCS is leading the efforts for a market-wide voluntary registry. Unless a credit is registered in one of the four VCS registries, it does not meet the VCS definition of a Voluntary Carbon Unit (VCU). This creates a robust system of transparent voluntary offset credits and provides a clear chain of ownership.

VER+ is the TÜV SÜD standard for VER projects, which is in line with the requirements of Kyoto Protocol for CDM or JI projects. The catalogue of the VER+ Standard criteria includes eligibility, additionality, permanence, exclusivity, avoidance of double-counting, environmental and social criteria, a defined ex-post crediting period and a conservative methodological calculation approach.

TÜV SÜD, a UN accredited independent verifier, is one of First Climate’s technical partners. In 2007, TÜV SÜD established the BlueRegistry, a robust database for VER+ credits. To date, BlueRegistry has incorporated 18 carbon projects and has issued almost 1.8 million VER+ credits.

Social Carbon is a methodology developed by the Brazilian non-profit Instituto Ecológica based on seven years of fieldwork in the Amazon region by a multidisciplinary team of researchers. The social carbon concept arose from the need to ensure that reducing emissions of greenhouse gases makes a substantial contribution to sustainable development. It is founded on the principle that transparent assessment and monitoring of the social and environmental performance of projects can improve their long-term effectiveness, and thus add value to the VERs generated.

This progressive methodology directly involves the local population in the project design and assessment processes, supporting the community in the achievement of its own goals and aspirations. Furthermore, the Social Carbon methodology requires continuous monitoring of social and environmental benefits over the project lifetime.

The CCB standard developed by the CCBA (Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance)  is a global partnership between leading companies, NGOs and research institutes seeking to promote integrated solutions to land management around the world and develop voluntary standards for multiple-benefit land and forestry projects. These projects deliver compelling benefits for the climate, biodiversity and the community.

The standard evaluates land-based carbon mitigation projects in the early stages of development and fosters the integration of best-practice and multiple-benefit approaches into project design and evolution. The projects simultaneously address climate change, support local communities and conserve biodiversity and therefore promote excellence and innovation in project design. The CCBS is the highest quality standard for land management and forestry projects and therefore part of First Climate’s portfolio.