GS1309 Low cost irrigation devices programme in India-VPA 02

Audit Analysis

This Gold Standard irrigation-device project in India has a combined additionality test and a reputable VVB (Lloyd's Register), but the verified emissions reductions for a ~2-year monitoring period (148,822 tCO₂e) exceed the entire 10-year ex-ante lifetime estimate (103,001 tCO₂e) by roughly 45%, raising serious over-crediting concerns. The project-specific baseline, 100% usage-rate assumption without independent verification, and 0% leakage deduction with only a 'deemed negligible' justification further weaken the integrity and claim-safety profile.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Verified ERs (148,822 tCO₂e) for a ~2.1-year monitoring period are approximately 6.7× the pro-rata expectation derived from the 10-year ex-ante lifetime estimate of 103,001 tCO₂e, indicating a severe over-crediting signal.
• ⚠Usage rate assumed at 100% (1.0) in the PDD with no verified usage-rate figure or end-use tracking found in the extracted record.
• ⚠Leakage deduction of 0% justified only as 'deemed negligible' in the verification report, while the monitoring report does not address leakage at all — a contradiction that weakens the justification.
• ⚠No buffer pool percentage stated, no permanence claim period stated, and no reversal events explicitly confirmed as zero — permanence risk is unaddressed.
• ⚠Three corrective action requests (CARs) in the verification report, including an incorrect diesel emission factor that initially inflated ERs by ~5,400 tCO₂e.

Credit Vintages Exhausted