Strengthening capacity through regenerative solutions for native sugarcane farmers in Maharashtra, India

Audit Analysis

This VCS ALM soil-carbon project for sugarcane farmers in Maharashtra carries an extraordinary volume of material findings (22 items) and corrective actions (22 items) from its validation, indicating fundamental weaknesses in baseline quantification, additionality demonstration, permanence assessment, and leakage treatment. No verified emissions reduction data is available, the lifetime ERR was revised downward by roughly 33% between PDD versions, and the 0% leakage deduction lacks any ex-post monitoring plan. The project is in a very early and fragile state of documentation and verification.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠22 material findings and 22 corrective actions identified in the validation report, spanning baseline emissions, project emissions, additionality, permanence, leakage, and project boundary — an unusually high number that signals the project barely met validation thresholds
• ⚠0% leakage deduction with no ex-post leakage monitoring plan; a Forward Action Request was raised specifically for biomass/fuel-substitution leakage monitoring, yet no monitoring protocol is in place
• ⚠Lifetime ERR revised downward from 577,000 tCO2e (PDD, Oct 2023) to 389,083 tCO2e (PDD, Oct 2025), a 33% reduction, with no verified monitoring data to anchor the current figure
• ⚠No verified ERR available for the monitoring period 2022-07-01 to 2023-07-01; total_err_verified is not stated in any available document
• ⚠Project longevity was initially claimed at 100 years and revised to 40 years, with the validation report flagging insufficient evidence for the 40-year claim

Credit Vintages

No issuances recorded on the registry.