What must a Gold Standard project put in its annual report, and what happens if it is late?
Every project past design certification files an annual report for each monitoring year, due by the end of the next calendar year if verification is not finished. It is made public and signed by someone with legal signing authority. Missing it leads to de-certification. It is not a certification and cannot approve a design change.
Who files and when
Projects that have reached Design Certification, or have transitioned to the Gold Standard, file an annual report for each monitoring year by the end of the next calendar year, for years where verification is not completed. Example from the standard: if verification for monitoring year 2019 is not complete by 31 December 2020, the 2019 report is due by 31 December 2020.
What goes in it
- A summary of recent activities, events and actions.
- How stakeholders can send inputs and grievances.
- All inputs and grievances received since the last report, with the answers or actions.
- Incidents or events that may affect the outcomes delivered or the project's performance.
- Any legal contest or dispute.
- Updates to the key project information, design document, monitoring plan and supporting papers.
- A short summary of the monitoring information collected in the year.
- Any change to the project participants and secured titles.
Rules around it
- It goes to Gold Standard, which makes it publicly available.
- An individual with legal signing authority in the developer's organisation attests to its accuracy.
- Failing to provide it results in de-certification.
- It is not certification and does not approve any design change. Changes in approach are reviewed only at performance certification.
Keep a grievance log all year
The report needs every input and grievance with the response. A dated log is the easy way to have it ready.
What Senseible does here
Senseible does not issue or verify carbon credits and is not a registry. It gives carbon credit eligibility signals from your own records and keeps those records in order for a verifier. Verified here means rule checks passed against the evidence, not third-party assurance.
Sources: Gold Standard for the Global Goals, Principles and Requirements, version 2.1
Last reviewed 2026-11-04.