In plain English
Water Benefit Certificates
Water Benefit Certificates is a water method run by Gold Standard. People often refer to it by its code, GS WBC. It works in the water access space.
In short
1 WBC equals 1 m³ of water supplied, purified or conserved, third-party audited under Gold Standard for the Global Goals.
What it is
The Gold Standard Water Benefit Standard certifies projects that provide access to clean and safe water and that deliver water, sanitation, and hygiene benefits, mainly in developing countries. The methodology covers water access projects that protect water used for drinking, food preparation, and cleaning, and related sanitation and hygiene activities, quantifying the volume of water benefits generated each year. Projects are issued Water Benefit Certificates in proportion to the water benefits they produce. One Water Benefit Certificate represents a quantified and verified volume of water treated, supplied, or conserved.
What it rewards
The reward is a credit called a Water Benefit Certificate (WBC). One credit stands for one cubic metre of water saved, cleaned or returned to a river. One cubic metre of water supplied, purified or conserved. A whole period of work is issued as one batch of credits at a time, in the same way a registry issues a batch.
What gets measured
To earn WBC credits, a project has to measure and prove a few things. An independent reviewer checks the evidence before any credits are issued.
The catchment and the kind of water work being done, such as replenishment, saving water or cleaning it up.
The starting water balance for the catchment, before the project.
The net amount of water benefit measured for the period, checked by an independent reviewer.
Who takes part
Standard Registry. Owns the policy, approves participants, anchors each issuance to its evidence.
Project Proponent. Registers the project and submits monitoring reports.
Validation & Verification Body. Independently validates the design and verifies monitored data.
How it works
- 1
The project team registers the project and its plan.
- 2
An independent reviewer checks that the plan is sound and that the benefit is real and would not have happened anyway.
- 3
The team looks after the site and measures the agreed indicators over time.
- 4
The independent reviewer verifies those measurements.
- 5
Credits are issued for the verified result, and a buyer can retire a credit to claim the benefit once.
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