Aurá Landfill Gas Project

Audit Analysis

The Aurá Landfill Gas Project is a CDM landfill gas capture project in Brazil with VVB-confirmed additionality and a measured project-specific baseline, but it is undermined by inconsistent leakage treatment across monitoring reports, a very short two-month monitoring window, contradictory ERR figures, and the absence of FPIC, a grievance mechanism, or any documented safeguards. The project's integrity is further weakened by an open corrective action on the monitoring plan and a baseline last reassessed in 2005.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠ERR figures are contradictory: one monitoring report (Jan 2017) reports 135,373 tCO₂e while a later report (Mar 2017) reports 28,121 tCO₂e for what appears to be the same or overlapping period, a ratio of roughly 4.8× that cannot be reconciled without further context.
• ⚠Leakage treatment is inconsistent: the 2015 monitoring report states leakage was 'not addressed' while the 2017 report claims it was 'quantified' with a 0% deduction, raising questions about whether a genuine quantification was performed.
• ⚠No FPIC was conducted, no grievance mechanism is in place, and the 2017 monitoring report does not mention safeguards, despite the 2006 validation report having referenced them.
• ⚠One corrective action remains open: the monitoring plan must be revised to align with ACM0001 v4.01 and the actual site setup (single flow meter for both captured and flared gas).
• ⚠The monitoring period covers only 54 days (Jan 1 – Feb 24, 2017), providing a very narrow window to validate performance over a 10-year crediting period.

Credit Vintages