PUR removal Germany Documentazione completa General Methodology v2.0

Nordgau Carbon, Wernberg-Köblitz

PUR-424545 ↗

5.2 / 10

Integrity

5.6

Transparency

4.8

Claim Safety

4.9

Documentation

5.2

Score Breakdown

Integrity

verified The verification report confirms additionality using an investment test and reports no material findings or corrective actions (verification report, 2024-01-10).

missing Permanence and leakage controls are unclear: no buffer contribution, no reversal information, and leakage is not addressed in the extracted record (verification report, 2024-01-10).

Transparency

verified A named VVB (bio.inspecta AG) and a clearly stated monitoring period are provided (verification report, 2024-01-10).

missing Core MRV outputs are missing from the extracted record, including total removals claimed vs verified and any usage/monitoring details relevant to biochar end-use (verification report, 2024-01-10).

Claim Safety

verified The project is assessed under a specific Puro methodology (General Rules 3.1 and Biochar Methodology; version noted), which can support standardized accounting if fully disclosed (verification report, 2024-01-10).

missing Over-crediting risk cannot be ruled out because verified removal totals, leakage treatment, and permanence provisions are not evidenced in the extracted record; CORSIA/CCP status is also not stated (verification report, 2024-01-10).

Documentation

verified The extracted record indicates multiple documents were used (7) and includes a recent verification report date (2024-01-10).

missing Evidence document labeling is weak (listed as “unknown”), and extraction confidence is only medium, leaving gaps on key quantitative fields (verification report, 2024-01-10).

Detailed Analysis

Integrity

The verification report confirms additionality via an investment test and indicates no material findings and no corrective actions, which supports baseline/additionality credibility (verification report, 2024-01-10). However, the baseline is described only as project-specific and the timing of any baseline reassessment was not found in the extracted record (verification report, 2024-01-10). For a biochar removal project, permanence risk management is unclear because no buffer pool contribution and no reversal events/monitoring outcomes were found, and leakage is explicitly marked as not addressed with no deduction stated (verification report, 2024-01-10).

Transparency

The extracted record provides a named VVB (bio.inspecta AG) and a defined monitoring period from 2022-04-01 to 2023-03-31, which are basic transparency positives (verification report, 2024-01-10). But the most important transparency items—total removals claimed and total removals verified—were not found in the extracted record, preventing an independent sense-check of issuance magnitude (verification report, 2024-01-10). In addition, no usage monitoring method or usage rate assumptions/verification were found, which is particularly relevant for biochar where end-use and storage conditions affect durability claims (verification report, 2024-01-10).

Claim Safety

Claims risk is elevated because the extracted record does not include the verified removal total, so buyers cannot easily validate the quantity underpinning any claims (verification report, 2024-01-10). Leakage is marked as not addressed and no leakage deduction is stated, which increases the risk of overstated net removals if upstream/downstream emissions are material (verification report, 2024-01-10). CCP status and CORSIA eligibility were not found in the extracted record, so there is no clear signal of alignment with higher-integrity eligibility screens (verification report, 2024-01-10).

Documentation

Documentation appears moderately strong in recency and process signals: the record references a verification report dated 2024-01-10 and indicates 7 documents were used (verification report, 2024-01-10). However, the evidence document list is not specific (shown as “unknown”), and extraction confidence is only medium, which reduces confidence that all key quantitative fields were captured correctly (verification report, 2024-01-10). The absence of key quantified fields (claimed/verified totals, leakage deduction, buffer) suggests either incomplete disclosure in the available set or incomplete extraction, both of which warrant a conservative score.

Overall

No contradictions were reported in the extracted record, so there are no cross-document discrepancies to resolve. The overall score is driven by a mix of positives (VVB-confirmed additionality; no findings/corrective actions; recent verification) and major evidence gaps on core removal accounting and risk controls (missing verified totals, leakage treatment, and permanence/buffer information). If documentation were to score below 3.0, transparency would be capped by the gate rule; and if integrity were below 4.0, the overall would be capped at 6.0—these gates are not triggered by the scores assigned here but remain relevant given the missing data.

Audit Analysis

The project appears to have a credible additionality check, with the verification report confirming an investment test and reporting no material findings or corrective actions. However, key integrity and MRV elements expected for biochar removals—especially leakage treatment, reversal/buffer provisions, and quantified verified removals—were not found in the extracted record, increasing over-crediting and claims risk.

Project Description

Nordgau Carbon is a privately owned biochar producer located in the village of Wernberg-Köblitz in South-Eastern Germany. Production commenced in April 2020 using untreated wood chips from local PEFC-certified forestry operations. The production facility lies in the heart of the forest region, the average transport distance for the feedstock to the facility is only 15km. Nordgau's high-quality biochar contains 89% carbon. Each metric ton of sequesters 2,8 tons of CO2 for centuries. Their biochar enables the responsible farmer to make an essential contribution to climate and environmental protection. Using the oxygen to carbon ratio, the stability of the carbon can be estimated. Puro.earth and the EBC use the O/C value, 0.4, as an upper threshold, which indicates a half-life of 500 years. Nordgau's laboratory analysis consistently shows a value of 0.024, which is very low, indicating a very high level of stability and, therefore long duration of sequestration. Nordgau Carbon produces biochar for mixing with manure or compost for use as a soil improvement medium. They are certified by the EBC (European Biochar Certification). The biochar is delivered to customers from the kiln without further treatment other than moisturization. Nordgau Carbon sells most of its biochar to the local farming industry but also to customers in neighbouring countries. Nordgau Carbon holds the European certificate of sustainably produced biochar (EBC). All upstream emissions from harvesting, transport and production have been accounted for in the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) which determines the net CO2 capture of each ton of biochar. The facility, LCA and supporting documentation are currently being audited by bio.inspecta against the Puro methodology.

Red Flags

No quantified verified removals were found in the extracted record (neither claimed nor verified totals).
Leakage is marked as not addressed, with no leakage deduction or justification provided in the extracted record.
No buffer pool percentage or reversal monitoring outcomes were found, leaving permanence risk management unclear for a removal credit.

Credit Vintages Exhausted

	Issued	Retired
2021	655	655
2022	201	201
2023	529	529
2024	736	736
Total	2,121	2,121

Cosa migliorerebbe questo punteggio

Disclose and/or extract the total removals claimed and verified for the monitoring period, including uncertainty/QA-QC and any adjustments made by the VVB.
Provide explicit leakage assessment (system boundary, quantified leakage if applicable, and any leakage deduction) consistent with the biochar methodology.
Document permanence risk management for biochar (durability class, monitoring of end-use/storage conditions, reversal provisions, and any buffer pool contribution).

Questi suggerimenti indicano quali prove pubbliche aggiuntive potrebbero migliorare il livello di confidenza di questa valutazione. Non garantiscono un punteggio futuro più alto.