TIST Program in India, VCS-001
#124of 261 in Soil carbon#672of 975 in India#885of 1339 in Verra (VCS)
Audit Analysis
The TIST Program in India is a long-running (since 2004) soil-carbon afforestation project with VVB-verified additionality and a 16% buffer pool, but it is burdened by an extraordinary volume of material findings (over 50), a 62% reduction in its lifetime carbon estimate between 2021 and 2025, a 2018 reversal event, a 0% leakage deduction, and a project-specific baseline. The sheer number of corrective actions, data inconsistencies, and scope changes (904 PAs dropped, 112 removed) significantly erode confidence in the robustness of the carbon claims, even though the most recent verification report reports no new reversal events and the project delivered roughly 113% of the pro-rata expectation for the latest monitoring period.
Red Flags
- Lifetime ex-ante carbon estimate dropped from 331,410 tCO2e (2021 VR) to 127,300 tCO2e (2025 VR), a 62% reduction, driven by 904 PAs dropping out and 112 being removed — this signals major scope instability and raises over-crediting risk for earlier vintages.
- A reversal event was reported in the 2018 verification report, indicating that non-permanence risk materialised at least once during the project's life.
- Over 50 material findings and 50+ corrective actions were raised in the 2025 verification report, including boundary overlaps for 25 PA sets, GPS demarcation errors for 10 PAs, a currency error (Uganda shillings in an Indian project), and insufficient farmer interviews (4 out of 5,999).
- Leakage deduction is 0% for a soil-carbon project; although the 2025 VR justifies this as 'quantified,' the 2021 VR described it as merely 'deemed negligible,' and the VVB was required to explain how zero-leakage conditions are met by new PAIs.
- 904 Project Areas dropped out and 112 were removed during the monitoring period; carbon for non-active PAs was set to zero and previously issued credits from removed PAs must be replaced, creating a net carbon deficit that must be recovered before new credits can be issued.
Credit Vintages
| Issued | Retired | Available | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 15,265 | 15,265 | 0 | |
| 2012 | 93,207 | 72,347 | 20,860 | |
| 2017 | 98,536 | 98,536 | 0 | |
| 2021 | 3,801 | 0 | 3,801 | |
| 2022 | 4,771 | 0 | 4,771 | |
| 2023 | 3,761 | 0 | 3,761 | |
| Total | 219,341 | 186,148 | 33,193 |
Risk Indicators
VVB-confirmed combined test
2018 reversal event; 16% buffer in place
0% deduction; justification inconsistent across VRs
Project-specific; reassessment date not stated
FPIC and grievance present; interviews and records insufficient
CCP approved; CORSIA status not stated
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