How we got started
The Gold Standard quality benchmark emerged and has evolved in parallel with the emergence and maturation of carbon offset markets. It is the brain child of a group of NGOs present at the 7th Session of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) in Marrakech in October-November 2001, when rules of procedure for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) were being decided.
These NGOs felt that it would be important to have in place from the outset a rigorous methodology that would:
- make it possible for project developers to adhere to the agreed CDM criteria for carbon offset projects and
- ensure that project implementation led to real and verifiable emissions reductions and made a measurable contribution to sustainable development.
A core group led by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), SouthSouthNorth (SSN) and Helio International therefore set out to develop such a methodology.
The Gold Standard Rules and Procedures for CDM (GSv0) was launched in 2003 after a two-year period of consultation with stakeholders, governments, NGOs and the private sector from over 40 countries. The Gold Standard Secretariat was established in 2004 to support its adoption and implementation, and was initially hosted by the Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy (BASE) in Basel, Switzerland. In 2006 the Gold Standard Foundation was established as an independent legal entity to reflect the growing requirement for an entity that could act as a regulator of the Gold Standard carbon market segment.
GSv0 was aimed at project developers who wished to obtain Gold Standard certification for carbon credits to be offered for sale on the CDM compliance market. Although the Kyoto Protocol had not yet come into force, the Gold Standard, in parallel to the emerging CDM market, began accepting applications for registration of CDM projects.
Since February 2005, when the Kyoto ratification threshold was reached and the Clean Development Mechanism became operational, both the compliance and the voluntary offset markets have experienced explosive growth, and demand for GS-certified carbon credits has grown with it. In early 2006 GSv0 was upgraded to become GSv1 for CDM projects, and in May 2006, a GSv1 for use within the voluntary carbon market - the Voluntary Gold Standard (GS-VER) - was launched. The GSv1 documents were subsequently amended twice - Gold Standard Rules Updates and Clarifications, July and December 2007. Both GSv1 documents were replaced in August 2008 by the Gold Standard Requirements and the Gold Standard Toolkit (GSv2) to integrate the rules and procedures and their updates, provide additional guides and tools, and simplify the presentation. To access the most recent version, go to GSv2 Documentation.