What stakeholder meeting does Gold Standard require before we list our project?
At least two rounds: one mandatory physical meeting with local stakeholders and a feedback round of at least 30 days. Invite people at least 30 days before the meeting, share a non-technical summary at least a week ahead, and hold the first round before the project start date, or the project becomes retroactive.
Who must be invited
- Local people and communities likely to be affected or to benefit.
- People with land tenure rights in or next to the project, and marginalised groups.
- Local policymakers and local authorities.
- National government officials or the national focal point, such as the Designated National Authority.
- Local NGOs and women's groups working on related topics or with affected communities.
- Gold Standard, at help@goldstandard.org, and the Gold Standard NGO Supporters in India or with representation in the region.
- Leave anyone out and you justify it to the VVB.
Before the meeting
- Send invitations at least 30 days ahead, in a language and by means that reach people, and in a gender-sensitive way.
- At least a week ahead, share a non-technical summary of the design, technology, scale, duration and likely effects, plus expected impacts, SDG contributions, an agenda, a contact person and a way to comment without attending.
- Open the meeting to anyone who wants to come.
At the meeting and after
- Cover expected benefits and harms, how harms will be avoided, and the feedback and grievance mechanism.
- For a large area, hold several meetings in different places.
- Then run the feedback round: share updated documents publicly for 30 days and tell people how their comments were used. It can run alongside validation, but the VVB must consider it before its opinion.
- Record every comment as received, with minimum interpretation.
Retroactive projects and the report
If consultation happens after the start date, hold at least the physical meeting before submitting for preliminary review; it may be combined with the feedback round. Preliminary review takes a draft report on the first round. The full report on both rounds is due within one year of the project start date.
Example: a consultation timeline
- Invitations sent: 1 June
- Non-technical summary shared: by 24 June
- Physical meeting: 1 July at the earliest
- Feedback round with updated documents: 30 days, for example 15 July to 14 August
Dates are an example.
What Senseible does here
For farm projects, Senseible's offline field app records each farmer's consent in person, with when, how and by whom it was given. It does not run or document Gold Standard consultations.
Sources: Gold Standard, Stakeholder Consultation and Engagement Requirements v2.1 (14 June 2022), Gold Standard, Principles & Requirements v2.1: 4.1.35 and 5.1.1
Last reviewed 2026-11-03. The Stakeholder Consultation Requirements v2.1 listed a planned update for June 2024; check Gold Standard for a newer version.