Charm Range & Plains Biochar

Audit Analysis

The Charm Range & Plains Biochar project has a VVB-verified additionality test and a 2% buffer pool, but the verification report identifies 18 material findings and 8 corrective actions revealing fundamental gaps in reversal-risk management, post-application monitoring, and stakeholder engagement. The 200-year permanence claim is not supported by any mechanism to detect or remedy soil-based reversal, and the 0% leakage deduction rests on a 'deemed negligible' justification that is difficult to reconcile with a model in which Charm hands responsibility to farmers after delivery. Overall, the project's structural design is sound in concept but under-delivers on the operational safeguards that would make its carbon-removal claims credible over the claimed timescale.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠No mechanism or plan exists for detecting, reporting, or remediating soil-based reversal risks, yet the project claims 200-year permanence (verification report, material findings).
• ⚠Once biochar is delivered, Charm transfers all application, soil-health, and monitoring responsibility to the farmer with no post-application monitoring by Charm (verification report, material findings).
• ⚠18 material findings and 8 corrective actions were raised in the verification report, including non-compliance with the Isometric Biochar Protocol closure-plan requirements.
• ⚠The PDD does not include a formal declaration of the buffer pool percentage, and the 2% buffer is low relative to a 200-year permanence claim.
• ⚠A discrepancy was observed between the net removals figure in Certify (3.52 tCO2e) and the GHG Statement (3.36 tCO2e), indicating internal reporting inconsistencies.

Credit Vintages

Issuance data not yet available — check back soon.