GS10655 GS10710: Promotion of clean cooking solutions in rural India by Infosys – VPA 3

Audit Analysis

A Gold Standard biogas project in rural India with VVB-confirmed additionality and FPIC, but weakened by a project-specific baseline, absence of a stated buffer pool, unaddressed reversal risk, and multiple unresolved contradictions across documents. The 0% leakage deduction is justified as quantified in the most recent verification report, yet earlier documents described it as merely deemed negligible. Data reliability is further undermined by low extraction confidence and conflicting crediting-period dates.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠No buffer pool percentage stated in any available document, leaving permanence risk unquantified for a biogas project where digester failure is a realistic reversal pathway.
• ⚠Reversal events are explicitly 'not addressed' in the extracted record, with no contingency or credit-retirement mechanism described.
• ⚠Crediting period is contradictory: the 2025 verification report states 2022-09-22 to 2027-09-22, while the 2024 validation report states 2025-01-01 to 2030-12-31 — a fundamental scope discrepancy.
• ⚠No site visit was conducted due to COVID-19; the audit was performed remotely, reducing the reliability of on-the-ground verification.
• ⚠Multiple material findings remain, including parallel firewood usage not captured in surveys, biogas-day calculation gaps, and stakeholder-consultation documentation gaps.

Credit Vintages