AWMS Methane Recovery Project MX06-S-99, Aguascalientes, Michoacan and Queretaro, México

Audit Analysis

This CDM methane-avoidance project in Mexico has a VVB-confirmed additionality assessment and a well-known verification body (DNV), but suffers from a severe under-delivery of emissions reductions (approximately 16% of the pro-rata expectation for the elapsed monitoring period), a contradiction in how leakage is treated across documents, and the absence of a buffer pool. The project-specific, modeled baseline and numerous missing data points further weaken confidence in the credit quality.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Verified emissions reductions of 8,186 tCO2e over the 4-year monitoring period represent only ~16% of the pro-rata expectation (~52,400 tCO2e) derived from the 91,702 tCO2e lifetime estimate in the validation report — a major under-delivery that raises over-crediting risk for the full crediting period.
• ⚠Leakage treatment is contradictory: the validation report (2007) deems leakage negligible, but the monitoring report (2011) does not address leakage at all, leaving no quantified deduction or updated justification.
• ⚠No buffer pool is documented for this methane-avoidance project, meaning any project cessation would result in full re-emission of avoided methane with no credit retirement mechanism.
• ⚠Seven corrective action requests were raised during validation, including updating the electricity emission factor and ensuring consistency in emission projections over the 7-year crediting period, indicating initial design weaknesses.

Credit Vintages

No issuances recorded on the registry.