Organic waste composting in Kathmandu Valley

Audit Analysis

This Gold Standard composting project in Kathmandu Valley was verified by SustainCERT and delivered 144% of its pro-rata ex-ante expectation for the monitoring period, which is encouraging. However, the verification process surfaced 27 material findings and corrective actions—ranging from GWP value errors to inconsistent waste-quantity figures—indicating a weak MRV discipline. The absence of a stated buffer pool, a project-specific modeled baseline with no documented reassessment, and the non-conduct of FPIC leave meaningful gaps in integrity and safeguards.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠27 material findings and 27 corrective actions were raised by the VVB, including substantive errors in GWP values (AR4 vs AR5), inconsistent methane-capture parameter 'f', and discrepancies in the quantity of waste composted (Qy) between the monitoring report and the ER spreadsheet.
• ⚠FPIC was not conducted, despite the project operating in a community setting in Kathmandu Valley.
• ⚠The leakage justification is contradictory across two monitoring reports (one says 'deemed negligible', the other 'quantified'), and the 0% deduction lacks a robust, consistent justification for a composting operation.
• ⚠Baseline is project-specific and modeled, with no documented reassessment date, and the crediting period itself is inconsistent between two monitoring reports (2014-07-01 vs 2014-01-01 start).

Credit Vintages