These FAQs refer to the Gold Standard Fee ScheduleChanges to the Gold Standard Fee schedule from 05 December 2024
Project Reviews and Credit Issuance Fees
- What is a Preliminary Review? Project Design Review? Performance Review?
- If I have paid a design review fee before 05 December and the final issuance fee is after 05 December, will I be paying more for my certification cycle?
- If an invoice has been issued but not paid, can/will the invoice be issued against this new fee schedule?
- What are the review fees for Programme of Activities?
- Is there a discount for microscale projects? How is this applied for microscale PoAs/VPAs?
- What is the difference between a cash fee project and Share of Proceeds (SOP) project?
- Are there special considerations for projects located in Least Developed Countries?
- Does the fee for Design Change apply if this follows the issuance track?
- What is the payment schedule for fees? Will this impact the timeline of my project review?
- Are there provisions to request an expedited review?
Other Labels and Impact Certification
Credit Transfers, Retirements and Cancellations
- What are transfer fees?
- What are the exemptions for transfer fees?
- What are retirement fees?
- What constitutes a cancellation fee and how it is applied?
- What are the exemptions for cancellation fees?
- When will I be invoiced for transfer, retirement, and cancellation fees?
- How can I monitor the status of my transactions?
Changes to the Gold Standard Fee schedule from 05 December 2024
What are the key changes in the fee schedule from 05 December 2024?
Project review and credit issuances
- Registry fee remains $1000 per year (pro-rata), with no additional fee for other Gold Standard applications, such as the SDG Impact Tool or digital assurance platform.
- Consistent fees applied across all activity types (Energy, Forestry, Agriculture etc.)
- Design review fees are fixed rather than variable for more predictability and to help remove potential upfront barriers.
- The review fees and crediting period renewals for Microscale projects/PoAs are discounted by 40% to continue supporting smaller projects and developers.
- Programme of Activities: Real case VPAs and 1st VPA (as per PoA hierarchy) are charged the full review fee with subsequent regular VPAs discounted by 40%. For Microscale PoAs, the 40% discounted fee also applies.
- Least Developed Countries issuance fees are discounted by 20% for cash model and 33% for SOP model.
Other fees
- A reconsideration of a deviation will be charged at $1000, to be discounted from next applicable fee for any decisions overturned.
- Introduction of a per-credit fee for transfers, retirements, cancellations to support the increase in administration and infrastructure costs.
- New Article 6 Labelling fee to cover new services to be administered by Gold Standard.
- Introduction of methodology review fees with reimbursement options for methodology developers.
- Consolidated fee structure for VVB services, including approval, reapproval, annual management, and auditor inclusion management.
Full details are available in the Gold Standard fee schedule.
When do these fees come into force?
All updated fees apply from 05 December 2024. The only exceptions are credit transfers, retirements and cancellations and the updated Impact Registry re-activation fee, which are applied from 01 Jan 2025.
Registry Fees
What is an Annual Registry Account Fee?
This is the annual fee paid to Gold Standard for the maintenance and improvement of the Gold Standard Registry. It is paid by every account holder except account holders whose sole relationship to Gold Standard is as an NGO Supporter. (NGO Supporters who are also project developers must pay this fee.)
What is an Account Reactivation Fee?
The Account Reactivation Fee must be paid to lift an account out of suspension. An account may be suspended for reasons including, but not limited to, non-payment of fees.
Project Reviews and Credit Issuance Fees
What is a Preliminary Review? Project Design Review? Performance Review?
The Gold Standard for Global Goals Principles and Requirements and the step-by-step guide to certification provide more information on the different stages and relevant reviews within the certification cycle.
If I have paid a design review fee before 05 December and the final issuance fee is after 05 December, will I be paying more for my certification cycle?
If the original design review fee has been paid, the balance will be calculated and automatically deducted from your issuance invoice.
If an invoice has been issued but not paid, can/will the invoice be issued against this new fee schedule?
The only invoice that would be re-issued is for the design review fee. This is to simplify the process at issuance by reducing the need to retroactively calculate and apply the balance. All other issued invoices shall be paid.
What are the review fees for Programme of Activities?
Design Certification and Performance reviews for Programme of Activities (PoAs) are charged at the full fee for Real Case PoAs and 1st VPA (as per PoA hierarchy) with subsequent regular VPAs discounted by 40%. For crediting renewal reviews the full fee will be charged for all PoAs and VPAs (both Real Case and Regular).
Is there a discount for microscale projects? How is this applied for microscale PoAs/VPAs?
Microscale project activities apply a 40% discount on all project review and crediting renewal fees.
For microscale PoAs: Real case microscale VPAs and 1st VPA (as per PoA hierarchy) are discounted by 40% of the full review fee with subsequent regular microscale VPAs discounted by an additional 40%.
What is the difference between a cash fee project and Share of Proceeds (SOP) project?
A carbon project can choose the Cash-Per-Credit Fee Structure or the Share of Proceeds Fee Structure. In the former, the project pays all of its fees in cash. In the latter, a project can pay a portion of its fees in carbon credits (VERs): 2% of the total issuance for VER projects.
Are there special considerations for projects located in Least Developed Countries?
Yes, Least Developed Countries are discounted by 20% for cash model and 33% for SOP model.
Does the fee for Design Change apply if this follows the issuance track?
If the Design Change is submitted along with the Performance Review (following issuance track) the Design Change fee is not applied.
What is the payment schedule for fees? Will this impact the timeline of my project review?
Payment schedules: Payment terms for review invoices will be 30 days. Reviews may start before payment is made. Note: Review decisions will be released once payment has been successfully received. See Standards, Assurance Model Update for more information.
Are there provisions to request an expedited review?
We do not have any provisions for an expedited performance review. Review requests are to be submitted via the Gold Standard Assurance Platform. They will be allocated to expert reviewers on a first come, first serve basis. We are confident that there are enough reviewers to ensure that timelines are met with regards to project reviews.
Other Labels and Impact Certification
What is the new Article 6 Label Fee? And at what stage will the fee be applied?
The Article 6 label fee has been applied since the 01 January 2025. This per credit fee supports the additional administration, processes and infrastructure required to label the credits and support host governments in their management and reporting of Article 6 cooperation.
The fee is applied either at issuance or, in the case of already-issued credits, prior to labelling.
Are there fees associated with other labels, such as CORSIA, CCP, Gender Responsive?
The Article 6 Fee is applicable to credits labelled as eligible for use under Phase 1 of CORSIA.
There are currently no fees associated with other labels such as Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) or Gender Responsive, although there maybe applicable design change fees if projects need to update their design to qualify for these labels.
Credit Transfers, Retirements and Cancellations
What are transfer fees?
Transfer fees are applied to transfers of credits from one account holder to another, when the account holders are not connected by the same master account.
What are the exemptions for transfer fees?
The following transfers are exempt from the transfer fee:
- Credit transfers between a master account and its associated sub-accounts
- Credit transfers to Gold Standard operated accounts, for example Share of Proceed (SoP) delivery subaccount, the Gold Standard Marketplace, or any other account utilised by Gold Standard for operational purposes.
Exceptions may be considered on a case-by-case basis if there are valid operational reasons for no payment, for example, merging multiple master accounts. A formal letter would be required to provide context for the request and reason for exemption. This letter can be submitted to help@goldstandard.org
What are retirement fees?
A per credit fee is applied to all credits that are retired. There are no exemptions for retirement fees.
What constitutes a cancellation fee and how it is applied?
If credits are cancelled, as opposed to retired, a fee for the cancellation will be charged. An example of a cancellation would be if a project chose to de-register and "undo" their issuance, so that they could issue credits under another standard.
What are the exemptions for cancellation fees?
Cancellation fees are not applied if:
- Credits are cancelled due to decisions coming out of the certification process, for example Land-use and Forestry (LUF) shortfalls.
- Credits are transferred to a host country registry (though a transfer fee will be applicable in the case of any return of such credits to the Gold Standard Impact Registry).
When will I be invoiced for transfer, retirement, and cancellation fees?
For fees incurred during 2025:
Invoices for transfer, retirements and cancellations will be generated and sent to the registered billing contact for the Impact Registry account in October 2025.
These invoices will include fees for any transfer, retirement and cancellation made between 01 Jan 2025 – 30 Sep 2025.
If you would prefer to be billed quarterly for 2025 fees, starting from Q2 2025, please email your request to help@goldstandard.org stating the Registry account name and number
From 2026:
Invoices will be generated and sent to the Impact Registry Account Holder on a quarterly basis with plans to move to real-time invoicing in the future.
How can I monitor the status of my transactions?
The 'My Credits’ page of the GSF Registry should be used to track both retirements and transfers of credits within an account.
The ‘Transfers’ page and export function will help in the assessment of credit transfers.
Fees for Other Services
What happens to the fee in the case that a Deviation Reconsideration Request is overturned?
In case the deviation decision is overturned, the fee will be credited back to the project developer.
What are the fees for VVBs?
Fees for VVB approval are located on the VVB fee schedule.
For any remaining questions please contact us at help@goldstandard.org
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