Assurance Platform Final Transition Phase - migration of open reviews from SustainCERT to Gold Standard from 30 April 2025

These FAQs refer to the communication regarding the migration of open reviews from SustainCERT to Gold Standard from 30 April 2025  and the New Assurance Model and Management Process for Gold Standard Project Certification

• What is the process for projects with a review in progress with SustainCERT at 30 April?
• What actions are required from Project Developers after migration?
• What are the responsibilities of VVBs after migration?
• How will Gold Standard progress migrated reviews?
• Will review progress be preserved or will the review start over?
• Will project data be fully migrated?
• Are there additional fees for the transition of reviews?
• Will review timelines be affected?
• Will submitted requests go through Global Public Consultation?

What is the process for projects with a review in progress with SustainCERT at 30 April?

These projects will be automatically migrated to the Gold Standard Assurance Platform under the status ‘In Preparation’. We anticipate this process to take up to one week for Gold Standard to complete.

What actions are required from Project Developers after migration?

From 07 May 2025, project developers are required to:

• Access the Gold Standard Assurance Platform and review the migrated request(s)
• Upload any other necessary documentation
  (Note: all documentation provided by SustainCERT should already be migrated and included within the request)
• Assign the VVB if necessary
  (Note: assignments cannot be migrated so a VVB may need to be reassigned)
• Submit the request once all information has been reviewed and confirmed accurate.

If projects have already transitioned and are completing reviews within the new Assurance model, no action is required.

Relevant Assurance Platform links and resources:

• Assurance platform
• Assurance platform user manual – project developers
• Assurance platform demo video
• Access request form

What are the responsibilities of VVBs after migration?

If a VVB is assigned, the VVB will be required to:

• Access and review requests submitted by project developers to ensure requests have migrated appropriately.
• Upload any other necessary documentation (if required/applicable).
• Once all information is verified as correct, the request should be submitted by the VVB to Gold Standard within the Assurance Platform.

Relevant Assurance Platform links and resources:

• Assurance platform
• Assurance platform user manual – VVBs
• Assurance platform demo video
• Access request form

How will Gold Standard progress migrated reviews?

On submission of a request from a VVB, Gold Standard will:

• Review the submission and verify a successful migration.
• If a review is required, a Reviewer will be assigned, and the project status will be set to ‘In Progress’. Reviewers will progress the review from its current status and aim to follow the timelines as per the updated requirements.
• If no review is needed, the request will be passed back to the VVB/Project Developer to submit any relevant clarifications/corrective actions.

Will review progress be preserved or will the review start over?

The review will continue from its current status, rather than starting over - reviewers may add new clarifying questions as needed.

However, reviews transitioned from SustainCERT will be marked within the Assurance Platform as if they are in the first-round review. This means:

• The round of review due date may not reflect the same dates as per the SustainCERT app.
• The number will only reflect the number of rounds of review the request has gone through within the Assurance Platform. It will not reflect any review rounds that took place with SustainCERT.

Will project data be fully migrated?

Energy projects: All data will be automatically migrated. There is no action required for project developers.

Land-Use & Forests (LUF) projects: All data will be migrated. However, due to documentation not having been stored within the SustainCERT app, the migration process will be manual and therefore, is expected to take more time. If you have any questions regarding how this process may impact your project, please reach out to help@goldstandard.org for more information.

Are there additional fees for the transition of reviews?

As fees have already been paid for the project review with SustainCERT, there will be no additional cost associated with this transition.

Will review timelines be affected?

We have increased internal capacity and added more external reviewers to help mitigate delays and any impact from open reviews transitioning to Gold Standard. It is, however, still possible that timelines may be slightly impacted for the next couple of months.  

Will submitted requests go through Global Public Consultation?

Review requests that were submitted prior to the rule update on 05 December 2024 will not be submitted for Global Public Consultation.

For any remaining questions please contact us at help@goldstandard.org