Vega-Hereko Istanbul Waste to Energy Project

Audit Analysis

The Vega-Hereko Istanbul Waste-to-Energy project is a registered VCS avoidance project (ACM0022) with VVB-confirmed additionality and no reversal events, but it is burdened by an extensive list of material findings including a calculation error in the N2O global warming potential, additionality demonstrated under incorrect methodology paragraphs, and unaddressed leakage from RDF by-products. The project delivered only about 16% of its pro-rata ex-ante expectation for the elapsed monitoring period, which eliminates over-crediting risk but raises questions about the realism of the original estimates. Four contradictions across documents—on additionality test type, leakage deduction, leakage justification, and benefit-sharing—further erode confidence in the data record.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Project delivered only ~16% of the pro-rata ex-ante expectation for the 2.75-year monitoring period (138,496 tCO2e verified vs ~872,000 tCO2e expected), indicating the original estimates were highly optimistic or the facility is significantly underperforming
• ⚠Incorrect GWPN2O value (298 used instead of 265 per IPCC AR5) inflated baseline N2O avoidance and thus credit quantities, as flagged in the validation report
• ⚠Additionality was demonstrated using incorrect paragraphs (25 and 26) of ACM0022 for the anaerobic digestion component, as noted in the validation report material findings
• ⚠Leakage emissions from off-site end-use and disposal of RDF by-products were not addressed in the PDD (section 4.3), and the monitoring report's 0% deduction contradicts the appendix's 0.05% figure
• ⚠Three Corrective Action Requests from the verification phase (2026 report) remain listed without explicit closure confirmation, unlike the seven validation CARs which were all closed

Credit Vintages

No issuances recorded on the registry.