Advanced Refrigeration - ARS2024001

Audit Analysis

A multi-site Advanced Refrigeration project in the US with VVB-confirmed additionality and a technology-based design that carries no carbon-stock reversal risk. However, the project suffers from a project-specific baseline with no documented reassessment, inconsistent leakage treatment between the validation and monitoring reports, six material findings (all documentation errors), and several key MRV parameters (FNRB, usage monitoring, CORSIA/CCP status) that are absent from the extracted record. The identical ERR figures across the lifetime estimate and the first (2.5-month) monitoring period warrant scrutiny, though for refrigerant-replacement projects the full avoidance may legitimately be claimed at the point of conversion.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠The verified ERR of 43,156 tCO₂e equals the full lifetime ex-ante estimate despite the monitoring period covering only ~2.5 months of a 10-year crediting period; while a one-time refrigerant-avoidance calculation may explain this, the monitoring report does not explicitly state the calculation basis, making over-crediting risk difficult to rule out.
• ⚠Leakage is treated as 'deemed negligible' in the monitoring report but is entirely unaddressed in the validation report, creating an inconsistency in the project's environmental accounting.
• ⚠Six material findings were raised by the VVB (First Environment), including incorrect GPS coordinates, mismatched cooling capacities, and a project start-date inconsistency, all requiring corrective action before the monitoring report can be considered final.

Credit Vintages