Varhad Industrial Cotton Stalk Biochar Project

Audit Analysis

The VICOS biochar project presents a structurally sound design with a combined additionality test, documented feedstock sustainability, and a 1000-year permanence claim supported by a 2% buffer pool. However, the available record is extremely thin: only a PDD and a stakeholder consultation document were extracted with low confidence, no VVB is named, no ERR figures exist, and leakage is entirely unquantified. The project is in its earliest phase (crediting begins September 2025), so the absence of monitoring data is expected, but the lack of any independent verification identity is a material gap for a carbon-removal credit.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠No VVB is named in any available document; additionality is described as a 'combined' test but independent verification cannot be confirmed
• ⚠Leakage deduction is not stated and no justification is provided, despite biochar production involving feedstock sourcing and energy inputs where displacement is plausible
• ⚠1000-year permanence claim is supported by only a 2% buffer pool, which is at the low end for such a long-lived claim
• ⚠Only two documents (PDD and stakeholder consultation) were available for extraction, with low extraction confidence; no verification report or monitoring report exists in the record

Credit Vintages

Issuance data not yet available — check back soon.