Due to the rapid expansion of carbon markets, Google.org Charitable Giving donates $1MM to Gold Standard (a partner of IOTA) to harness innovative technology and governance innovations that unleash high-quality impact data and channel more carbon funding to disadvantaged areas.
Who is Gold Standard?
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and other international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) developed the Gold Standard in 2003 to guarantee that initiatives that decreased carbon emissions achieved the greatest standards of environmental integrity while simultaneously contributing to sustainable development.
As a result of the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals, they established a best practice standard for climate and sustainable development interventions called the Gold Standard for the Global Goals.
This standard is designed to maximize impact while creating value for people all over the world and for the planet we all share.
How Will The IOTA Foundation Contribute?
Gold Standard announced today that it has received a $1 million grant from Google.org Charitable Giving to support the development of an open, worldwide cooperation on digital solutions for carbon market standards, as well as monitoring, reporting, and verification of carbon emissions (MRV). The program will get off in the coming months with donations from Open Collaboration partners ClimateCHECK and the IOTA Foundation, as well as Cosmos Partners, who will each make a significant commitment.
To achieve emission reductions, but also to accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals and to contribute to climate justice for people currently suffering from the consequences of climate change, funding catalyzed by expanding carbon markets is the aim.
Since 2019, the value of the voluntary carbon market has increased dramatically year on year, reaching $1 billion in value in 2021. But most of the project development, MRV, and certification procedures remain manual, disconnected, and in some instances complicated, restricting access to a limited number of market players, most of whom are located in the developed world.
As a result of this grant, Gold Standard and its partners will support MRV governance innovation while also developing and integrating a variety of technologies, such as digital methodologies and workflows, the internet of things (IoT) for data gathering, distributed ledger technology (DLT), and smart contracts, which can improve impact data quality while also reducing time and costs, and, most importantly, increasing access to less experienced project proponents.
Margaret Kim, CEO of Gold Standard
“We aim to leverage technology to accurately and efficiently measure climate and development outcomes”
“The goal is to maximise the impact of every dollar, euro or peso toward climate security and meaningful sustainable development, and put more power in the hands of those delivering this impact.”
Brigitte Hoyer Gosselink, Director, Product Impact at Google.org
“We’re pleased to support Gold Standard’s open and collaborative efforts to increase the efficiency and transparency of projects that mitigate carbon emissions”
“We believe Gold Standard’s work represents an important step towards creating the digital ecosystem and market infrastructure needed to help voluntary carbon markets live up to their potential as a tool for financing climate action at scale.”
Source: GoldStandard
