Natural forest afforestation

In contrast to most climate protection projects, where the income from CO2 certificates usually only improves the project's return on investment, PROJECT TOGO is financed 100% from the income from the sale of CO2 certificates. This is because the project has no additional income, e.g. from the use of wood (natural forest).
Due to the constantly increasing certification costs, we have decided to withdraw from the Gold Standard because, firstly, we can invest the money saved in this way more efficiently in the expansion of the project and in social projects and, secondly, the surveys and reactions of customers have shown that certification according to the Gold Standard is not appropriate.
We are convinced that the Gold Standard cannot be used as a quality criterion, as it is often limited to the fulfillment of a minimum when assessing the criteria. Only a direct examination of the individual implementation helps to identify high-quality projects.
However, we will continue to have PROJECT TOGO audited by external experts and preferably work together with technical colleges and universities in order to promote and support the basic idea of know-how, i.e. the transfer of knowledge to emerging countries.
Existing and expiring CO2 certificates are stored in a publicly accessible database and can be viewed.

The retroactive application of new Gold Standard rules to the Togo Natural Forest Project, which is 100% dependent on carbon credits, has rendered the certification useless. The business plan submitted for certification in 2012 was part of the certification. As the changes in the Gold Standard also have a retroactive effect on the business plan, we consider the Gold Standard's approach to be inadmissible and contrary to its own rules.
It is incomprehensible to us that the Gold Standard has not yet been able to approve auditors and assessors directly from this continent for climate protection projects in Africa in order to avoid the high certification costs and the many flights (Europe - Africa).
Whether fair trade or SDG certification - projects with a particular commitment (especially in the social area) recently had to undergo additional procedures under the Gold Standard, which were associated with considerable additional costs in order to prove their added value. This inevitably raises the question of why the Gold Standard promotes value creation in Switzerland and not in developing countries.