We found an error in our Gold Standard project data. When must we report it?

Straight away, and no later than 30 days after you discover it. Gold Standard requires the project developer to report any potential or actual non-conformity. While it reviews the issue, Gold Standard may suspend certification and registry activity, including the transfer or retirement of your credits.

What counts as a non-conformity

Anything that breaks the Gold Standard Requirements or the guidelines, tools and methodologies that go with them: a wrongly calibrated meter, a missing monitoring parameter, an over-counted period. "Potential" ones count too. Anyone, not only you, can report one to Gold Standard at any time.

What Gold Standard may do

• Review it, possibly with an independent investigation and expert peer review.
• Suspend certification and registry actions during the review, including assignment, transfer or retirement of credits.
• Require immediate correction, suspend the project until a verified fix, or remove its Certified Design status.

What makes it worse

• The issue is repeated, systematic or fundamental to the project.
• It led to a wrong certification decision or over-issuance.
• It lasted a long time or affected a large area or population.
• It endangered lives, livelihoods or the environment.
• The developer did not notify Gold Standard, did not limit the damage, or tried to hide it.

The first 30 days

1. Write down the discovery date and who found the problem.
2. Work out which monitoring periods and how many tonnes are affected.
3. Report it to Gold Standard with that estimate, inside 30 days.
4. Tell your VVB, fix the cause and keep evidence of the fix.
5. In a programme of activities, the CME has 60 calendar days from notice to replace credits issued for a wrongly included unit.

Example: a meter scaling error

• Discovered on 5 May: a flow meter read 10% high for one monitoring period
• Issued for that period: 8,000 t CO2e, so about 8,000 x 10/110 = 727 t overstated
• Report to Gold Standard: by 4 June at the latest
• Expect a hold on transfers or retirements while it reviews

Figures are an example; the correction method follows Gold Standard's decision.

What Senseible does here

For carbon removal projects, Senseible's field records keep the earlier value and the reason whenever an entry is edited, so the history behind an error stays visible. It does not report to Gold Standard for you.

• Gold Standard PoA liability
• Verra verification materiality
• What a VVB is
• Carbon credits

Sources: Gold Standard, Principles & Requirements v2.1: Section 7, Non-Conformity, Gold Standard, Programme of Activity Requirements and Procedures v3.0 (12 November 2024)

Last reviewed 2026-11-03. Principles & Requirements v2.1 (published 31 January 2025) listed a planned update for 5 December 2025; check Gold Standard for a newer version before relying on these timelines.