Household Biogas Project in Uttarakhand, India

Audit Analysis

This household biogas project in Uttarakhand, India, was verified by 4K Earth Science but the verification report (March 2026) surfaced over twenty material findings, including a 15.8% downward revision of the non-renewable biomass fraction (fNRB from 86% to 72.4%), a 13,196-credit overestimation in the prior period, and an initially inadequate additionality demonstration. The VVB caught and corrected these issues, and a 5% quantified leakage deduction is applied, but the project-specific baseline, absence of a stated buffer pool, and extensive data-quality problems (database duplicates, end-user mismatches, missing tools) leave meaningful residual risk. The project is not CORSIA-eligible, which limits dual-channel exposure, but CCP status is not stated in the available record.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠fNRB revised downward from 86.0% to 72.4% due to a data-source correction, triggering a 13,196-credit deduction from the current period — indicating the initial ex-ante estimate was materially overstated
• ⚠Additionality demonstration was found inadequate regarding regulatory surplus and SSC thresholds; Tools 21 and 32 were missing from the project document and monitoring report
• ⚠968 households were extrapolated as non-functional for up to 3 days based on a sample of 5 out of 70 surveyed households, raising concerns about the representativeness of the survey
• ⚠Biogas stove database contained end-user mismatches and duplicate entries, undermining confidence in the underlying household-level data
• ⚠Contradictions between the 2023 and 2026 verification reports on safeguards, FPIC, grievance mechanism, and benefit-sharing suggest these elements were not consistently documented across verification cycles

Credit Vintages