Fuzhou Hongmiaoling Landfill Gas to Electricity

Project Description

This project supports collection of landfill gas and generation of 2.5MW of electricity at a landfill in Fuzhou City in Fujian Province in southeastern China. The landfill received waste from 1995 until 2008, and—like most landfills—throws off methane as some of that waste decomposes. Credits are generated from two pieces of the project: (1) avoiding the emissions of methane (a potent greenhouse gas) into the atmosphere and (2) using the power generated from the methane (natural gas) to displace dirtier coal-fired power coming from the electric grid. The project clearly required carbon revenues to achieve these two goals and therefore generates high-quality carbon offsets.

Activity Types

Landfill Gas Capture

Key Information

Developer Fujian Tianyi Renewable Energy Technology & Utilization Co., Ltd.

Project Type Landfill Gas Capture

Impact Type Avoided Emissions

Permanence 100

Methodology ACM0001

Verifier Germanischer Lloyd Certification

Project Lifetime 2007 – 2017

Oxford Category Oxford Type 1—Technology-based Reductions

Due Diligence

CNaught maintains a very high quality standard for all projects in the portfolios we manage. To ensure that a project meets this standard, we perform due diligence that’s backed up by third-party ratings agencies’ independent due diligence.

Additionality
This project has very high additionality, meaning it is very unlikely that this project activity could have occurred in the absence of carbon funding. Landfill gas capture programs were very rare in China when the project began. During our due diligence process, we found that while China is the world’s largest producer of municipal solid waste – the kind of waste that goes into landfills – it had less than 20 landfill gas capture programs by the time the project had begun1. Calyx has also rated this project highly in part because of its additionality.

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Over-Crediting
This project has a low risk of over-crediting due to the fact that its emissions reductions are a direct measurement of the amount of methane captured and either combusted or used for energy. However, Calyx Global did cite that the project did not account for natural oxidation in their baseline calculation, which could result in slightly increased emissions reductions calculations. Natural oxidation is the process in which methane can sometimes permeate the cover used to seal the landfill, and migrate upwards where it is oxidized and converted into CO2. If projects use an oxidation factor that is too low, they risk over-calculating the amount of methane they capture. During our due diligence process, we reviewed the Fuzhou landfill’s geology, location, and size and found that it is likely to have 0 (or near 0) oxidation. Therefore, we believe that their risk of inaccuracy in their carbon accounting remains low2.

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Durability
This project activity is highly durable as its emissions reductions are considered permanent, since the methane reductions it produces cannot be reversed. There is also no risk that the project activity would lead to the creation of new landfills and thus additional methane emissions. Because of this, the project is considered highly durable.

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Double-Counting
The project credits have a very low risk of being double counted. There are no regulatory obligations being met by the project activity and the project’s registry, Verra, has mechanisms in place to ensure that the project is not registered in any other programs.

Figure shows the cumulative carbon dioxide emissions that this project avoided during its crediting period, shaded in green. This project required carbon credit funding to build the infrastructure and install the equipment necessary for landfill gas capture and conversion to energy. Because the landfill continues to produce methane, even though it stopped receiving credits in 2017, it continues to operate and provide continuous climate benefits even today! Note that: all data post 2017 is interpolated.

Beyond Carbon

Community and biodiversity co-benefits

This project provides significant community, health, and sustainable technology benefits.

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Community: This project has trained and hired local residents to help operate its facilities, supporting the local economy while also ensuring that the project activity continues running smoothly. Human & Environmental Health: This project prevents contamination of local water supply and helps improve air quality. The project also prevents the risks of potential fires or explosions by capturing the methane produced from the landfill. ‍Sustainable Technology: This project is introducing an important sustainable technology to China. Landfills are a significant source of methane emissions, and China, as both the world’s largest methane emitter and landfill waste contributor, has thousands of landfills1. Before the project began, China had less than 20 landfill gas collection projects2. This project, as well as other early landfill gas projects in China, helped introduce this clean technology to China, and has supported the scaling of implementation throughout the country in recent years. There is still a long way to go before this becomes common use in China though, and while the country did construct 510 new landfill gas collection facilities in 2020, it is estimated that ~80% of China’s landfills have not yet implemented methane gas collection3,4.

Risk of Reversal

This project has no risk of reversal because its avoided emissions are not subject to being undone.

Registry & Verification

Registry Verra

Project ID 253

Verification Body Germanischer Lloyd Certification

In the News

Integrity Council announces first high-integrity CCP-labeled carbon credits, as assessments continue

ICVCM · Jun 6, 2024

CNaught’s take: The ICVCM has been widely considered as the leading authority on carbon quality. They found that landfill gas projects are some of the highest quality projects in the VCM. While they did not apply their CCP label to Fuzhou, which uses an older methodology that they did not review, they did apply it to newer versions of its methodology which supports this projectu2019s quality claim. While a CCP label isnu2019t enough to define quality, it still serves as a useful quality indicator.

Landfill Gas projects garner high ratings but low interest

Calyx Global · Mar 17, 2023

CNaught’s take: Calyx has found that landfill gas projects are some of the highest quality carbon projects available on the market. However, because they are not as charismatic as forest projects, despite often being much higher quality, they are not as popular with buyers. They recommend, as we do, that buyers should focus more on quality and begin to invest more heavily in landfill gas projects such as this one.

Exploding craters and overflowing landfills are unexpected sources of methane

BBC · Apr 3, 2024

CNaught’s take: Landfills are a major global source of methane, and given that China produces more landfill waste than any other country, it has a lot of landfill methane to contend with. If methane gas is not captured in landfills, it can build up and lead to dangerous fires and explosions. By capturing methane gas, this project helps to protect local communities from such potential dangers.

Time for China to get serious about its methane emissions

The Economist · Aug 22, 2024

CNaught’s take: China emits ~14% of the global methane emissions each year. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that has more than 80 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Reducing methane emissions will be critical to turning the tide on climate change and landfill gas projects such as this, which reduce methane emissions and convert them into electricity, are going to help us get there.