What is the scope of approval of VVBs?

Geographical scope:

VVBs are approved for a global geographical scope. This means that as long as they comply with the VVB Requirements on team composition and competence around country-specific knowledge, they may conduct an audit in any country. VVBs are encouraged to work with country experts and trained interpreters to conduct audits where the audit team is not local and/or does not speak the local language or understand the local laws or culture.

Sectoral scope/project types:

Under Gold Standard, VVBs are approved under specific certification pathways. You can find a list of these in the VVB requirements. Each certification pathway corresponds to a number of project types that the VVB is approved to audit. VVB approval is not the only condition for auditing a specific project or project type. Within the certification pathway, the VVB may, for example, lack auditor or technical reviewer expertise for a specific sector or topic. For example, even if a VVB is approved for renewable energy projects, a lack of adequate finance expertise would preclude the VVB from performing validations that require a thorough additionality assessment.