Yangxiang AWMS GHG Mitigation Project in Zhejiang province

Audit Analysis

The Yangxiang AWMS project in Zhejiang is a registered VCS waste-management project using two AMS methodologies, with additionality confirmed by the VVB via an investment test. However, the project relies on a project-specific (non-jurisdictional) baseline, reports no buffer pool, and carries contradictory leakage justifications across documents. The volume of 21 corrective action requests during validation/verification — all subsequently resolved — signals significant initial documentation weaknesses, though the verified emissions reductions for the first monitoring period came in well below the pro-rata lifetime expectation, which is conservative.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠21 corrective action requests and 12 clarification requests were raised during joint validation and verification, indicating substantial initial gaps in baseline description, additionality demonstration, project boundary, and emission calculations (all resolved per the verification report).
• ⚠Leakage justification is contradictory: the monitoring report (Nov 2023) describes leakage as 'quantified' while the PDD (Jan 2024) describes it as 'deemed negligible,' with a 0% deduction in both cases.
• ⚠The lifetime ERR estimate was reduced from 348,800 tCO₂e (PDD, Oct 2022) to 183,428 tCO₂e (PDD, Jan 2024), a 47% downward revision that raises questions about the robustness of the original ex-ante estimate.
• ⚠Grid emission factor differs between PDD versions: 0.66125 (Oct 2022) vs 1.3 (Jan 2024), a near-doubling that materially affects baseline calculations.

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