Xuan Cheng Composting Project Phase II

Audit Analysis

The Xuancheng Composting Project Phase II is a registered VCS project with a confirmed investment-test additionality and an inherently low permanence risk (avoidance-type credits from avoided methane). However, the verification process surfaced an unusually large number of material findings — 13 corrective action requests and 10 clarification requests — covering calculation inconsistencies, sampling-methodology failures, and cross-document value mismatches that collectively undermine confidence in the reported emission reductions. The 0% leakage deduction and project-specific modeled baseline, combined with contradictory ERR figures across documents, leave meaningful residual risk.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠13 corrective action requests and 10 clarification requests were raised and closed during verification, including failures to apply the Student's t-distribution for sample-size calculation and inconsistent PECH4,y values across the monitoring report, verification report, and spreadsheet
• ⚠Total ERR figures contradict between the validation report (51,528 tCO2e) and the monitoring report (44,058 tCO2e), and in both documents the claimed and verified values are identical, raising the question of whether independent verification actually altered the project's self-reported numbers
• ⚠Leakage deduction is 0% with a justification that shifted from 'deemed negligible' (2023 verification report) to 'quantified' (2025 verification report) without a clear methodological basis for the change
• ⚠Low extraction confidence across the document set, with one document of unknown type among the 42 files used

Credit Vintages