Gold Standard to Pilot Carbon Finance for Emissions Reductions from Government Policies

Governments will be able to certify the impact of their emission reduction policies through Gold Standard, with the launch of innovative new Policy Requirements and Procedures. This initiative, currently in pilot phase, provides a route for carbon finance to support large scale climate action by allowing certification and credit issuance for emission reductions achieved through policies or regulations.  

The new Policy Requirements and Procedures from Gold Standard offer a financial mechanism to incentivise the introduction of new climate policies, directly leading to greenhouse gas reductions or removals. This approach works alongside other requirements under Gold Standard for the Global Goals, ensuring comprehensive safeguarding, sustainable development, and stakeholder consultation.

Through these pilots Gold Standard will certify the impacts on climate and sustainable development resulting from new policies or regulations, especially in energy and land use sectors. These certified impacts can generate credits, which are expected to be authorised as Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. This will allow governments around the world to finance new policies in other countries that drive greenhouse gas reductions, while counting these reductions towards their own Paris Agreement targets.

The new Requirements and Procedures were as part of the initiative “Development of Paris Agreement Compliant Carbon Standard for Policy Approaches, supported by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI).

Margaret Kim, CEO of Gold Standard, said:

 "We are excited to launch the pilot phase of our Policy Requirements and Procedures, offering a robust framework for policy-based climate action. This initiative underscores our commitment to taking bold and pioneering steps to enable impact at scale and to supporting governments in achieving their climate goals under the Paris Agreement."

Gold Standard is looking for governments and other interested parties to participate in this pilot phase which will initially be applied in a limited number of jurisdictions.

If you are interested in contributing to the development of this innovative mechanism, please contact us at [email protected].