The standards bodies operating in the voluntary carbon market must ensure that climate projects take the rights and concerns of local and indigenous communities into account and offer them avenues for redress. A review conducted on behalf of Carbon Market Watch found that only one standard body, Gold Standard, provides appropriate recourse to file grievances to communities affected by climate projects. The remaining assessed standards have inadequate or non-existent grievance mechanisms. This situation leaves local communities and indigenous peoples vulnerable and infringes on their access to justice.

To address this inadequacy, this document provides detailed recommendations of general action and specific action for each standard. It also provides recommendations to the Paris Agreement’s Article 6.4 Supervisory Body, which will soon set up its own grievance mechanism.