Gold Standard Audits

Gold Standard is one of the popular and widely known certification standard globally for carbon credit projects.

It ensures that energy efficiency, renewable energy, and land credit use projects actually reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and provide benefits to the local population. It accredits firms to conduct audits. EPIC is an accredited auditing agency for Gold Standard projects.

The Gold Standard's objectives are to help boost investment in sustainable energy and land use projects, ensure significant and lasting contributions to sustainable development, provide assurance that investments have environmental integrity and increase public support for renewable energy and energy efficiency and improved land use practices.

The GS is based upon a rigorous assessment framework that makes an assessment of the project type and its sustainable development. Projects must be 'additional' meaning that the project proponent behind a project need to demonstrate that the project would not have occurred without the combined incentives that carbon credits provide. Due to financial, political or other barriers, the project must prove it goes beyond a "business as usual" scenario and that greenhouse gas emissions are lower with the project rather than without the project.

Eligible projects include

Energy

Renewable Energy – such as solar, biomass, biogas and liquid biofuels (if they produce electricity), wind, geothermal, hydro.
Energy Efficiency – industrial, domestic, transportation, public sector, agricultural sector and commercial sector.
Waste Handling and Disposal – all waste handling activities that deliver an energy service or a usable product with sustainable development benefits (e.g. composting).
Short Lived Climate Pollutants – such as Black Carbon

Land Use & Forests

Afforestation projects - that establish a forest in an area that previously was not forested.
Reforestation projects - that re-establish a forest, either naturally or by direct seeding or planting.
Agriculture programmes - that focus on increasing farm productivity whilst lowering the impact of the key drivers of deforestation. Sustainable Agriculture land management practices and soil carbon related.

Water

Programmes that supply, purify, and conserve water – including WASH projects and sustainable sugarcane initiatives.

Awards & Recognitions

What our clients are saying

We congratulate EPIC for being adjudged as the Best Verifications Agency second year in succession. With our own experience with their team we feel that EPIC deserves to win these international awards. While conducting CDM audits, without making any compromise on regulatory compliance and time lines EPIC is discharging their duties very responsibly.
- Mr.S.U.Joshi, Director ofSahyadri Industries Limited, Pune, India : Expert manufacturer and service provider in Asia for infrastructure products and services

EPIC has been one of the most efficient and reliable DOE we have worked with in India and South East Asia for various CDM and VCS projects. They have extremely well qualified auditors and able senior management. We are really looking forward to continue working withthem.
- Mr.Santosh Kumar Singh, Regional Director ER Projects Southeast Asia, South Pole Group : Leading and World renowned carbon market player based in Zurich, Switzerland

After screening all DOEs operating in Latin Americain the last quarter of 2014, we at EssencisSoluçõesAmbientais S.A. ended up selecting the EPIC Sustainability for performing certification assessments (verifications) for the large landfill gas (LFG) collection and destruction CDM project activity implemented in our landfill located in Caieiras, São Paulo in Brazil. We are very happy with the assessments performed by EPIC and their superior technical approach. Furthermore, the very fast reaction time from EPIC technical and operational teams has been instrumental for successfully meeting the CER delivery schedule towards our current Annex-I project participant based in Europe.
- Mr. Fernando Souza Nazareth de Freitas, EssencisSoluçõesAmbientais S.A, SOLVI Group, Brazil : Leading organization involved in the running of many LFG projects in Latin America

EPIC Sustainability has always delivered the CDM and VCS project reports on scheduled time and their team was found to be very simple and attentive. They are very committed to accomplish the tasks in time with quality. We wish them all success in future.
- Mr.Bharathi Kannan Venkatachalam, Head of GHG & CDM Projects, Tamilnadu Spinning Mills Association TASMA, India : One of the World’s biggest renewal energy GHG/CDM project aggregators & developers

We confirm the quality of work of EPIC team for Gold Standard project verification. The technical knowledge of EPIC’s contribution allowed us to complete our Gold Standard project verification work well in time.
- Mr.StefanSontheimer, Directeur, Quadran Pacific, France :A leading renewal energy producer

We found EPIC team as receptive, professional and on time while delivering services throughout the engagement. In spite of the present carbon market conditions EPIC stayed the course to continue to work well in challenging times and industry.
- Ms.Vichitra Thiyagarajah, Country Manager for Malaysia and Group General Counsel, Alternative Energy Corporation, Singapore : A leading engineering and operations company with one of the largest portfolio of running waste water treatment plants and renewal energy projects

EPIC has carried out the CDM auditing work for our renewable energy projects in a record time and successfully met the strict time lines. We are confident that EPIC will continue to do good work in the industry.
- Mr.Gopal Gandhi, Head of Projects & Advisor, Rajasthan State Mines and Minerals Limited, India : Owner of Mines &Renewable energy projects

News and Updates

EPIC participated as an exhibitor at Asia Pacific Carbon Forum 2016 at Jeju island, Republic of Korea during 5th to 7th September. We thank all for visiting our booth.

EPIC participated as an exhibitor at Africa Carbon Forum 2016 at Kigali, Rwanda during 28th to 30th June. We thank all for visiting our booth.

EPIC participated as an Exhibitor at Carbon Expo, Cologne, Germany during 25-27th May 2016 and thank all the visitors to the booth

EPIC Team had participated in COP 21 during December 2015 at Paris and was pleased with the signing of the historic and land mark Paris Climate Change Agreement

EPIC Team had participated in Jakarta Climate Festival and Forestry Conference supported by UN-REDD and conducted by Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Republic of Indonesia during February 2016

Our Services

Climate Community & Biodiversity Alliance audits (CCB – forestry audits)

REDD mechanism forestry audits

Plan Vivo audits

Climate Bond Certification

Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM, Japan) certification

Sustainability Reporting & Assurance

MRV, NAMA, INDC and related interventions

WCD compliance auditing