The Gold Standard Foundation was established in 2003 by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), to provide rigorous accreditation for carbon reduction schemes and carbon credits.​

The organisation wasn’t achieving the market share or notoriety it deserved.​

The language and positioning of the Gold Standard Foundation was inherently scientific, and not easily understood by its target consumers. Illegitimate carbon schemes were achieving much higher market share through hi-jacked green rhetoric and easier access with lower scrutiny.​

Vision to Value’s Ian Thatcher and associate Jo Marsh devised a programme to shift the language of the Gold Standard brand from technical and scientific jargon to a real world, consumer tone. Through a phase of collaborative workshops and research, a new core message was achieved which focussed on impact. The Gold Standard could now summarise its mission as “achieving a climate secure and sustainable world” followed by palatable examples of the science delivering tangible impact. The result attracted increased registration of both project owners and purchasers of carbon credits.​

The outcome was growth to 1700 projects registered in over 80 countries, attracting $20.5 billion of investment and the reduction of carbon emissions by 134 million tonnes.