Decentralized Clean Cooking for Smallholder Farmers in Mexico

Audit Analysis

A Gold Standard biogas cooking project in Mexico with solid additionality (combined test, VVB-verified) and no reversal events, but weakened by a project-specific baseline, absence of a buffer pool, and a notable usage-rate shortfall (0.76 verified vs 0.9 assumed). The project is underperforming relative to its design assumptions, which is conservative for claim safety, though the volume of corrective actions and data inconsistencies across documents raises moderate reliability concerns.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Usage rate verified at 0.76 versus 0.9 assumed in the PDD — a 16% shortfall that, while conservative, signals operational underperformance and raises questions about the robustness of the monitoring methodology.
• ⚠No buffer pool percentage is stated in any available document, leaving permanence risk for the biodigester installations unmitigated.
• ⚠Thirteen farms were initially omitted from calculations and one farm (ID #30811) was using ineligible feedstock (dog feces), indicating weak initial data quality controls.
• ⚠CORSIA eligibility and CCP status are not stated in any available document, leaving dual-channel risk unassessed.

Credit Vintages