Can an Indian factory earn Verra credits for switching from coal to gas?
By default, no. Verra's Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Standard v5.0 limits new projects and renewals that switch to a lower carbon fossil fuel to least developed countries (LDCs), and India is not one. Named exceptions cover captured flare or vent gas, waste containing used petroleum products, and efficiency gains in using a fossil fuel.
What Table 1 of the standard says
Section 2.1 of VCS Standard v5.0 sets a default eligibility for some activities by location. For activities that switch from a higher to a lower carbon content fossil fuel to generate electricity or thermal energy, the default for new registrations and crediting period renewals is activities in LDCs. India is not on the United Nations list of least developed countries.
The three activities the table leaves open
- Captured flare or vent gas.
- Waste containing previously used petroleum products, such as used plastics, oils and lubricants.
- Improving the energy-efficient use of a fossil fuel. The standard's own example is liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cookstoves.
Where a coal to gas switch falls
Replacing coal with piped natural gas, LPG or compressed natural gas (CNG) in a furnace or boiler is a switch to a lower carbon content fossil fuel, so by default it sits outside what Verra accepts in India. Burning less furnace oil for the same output, for example with an oxygen sensor, is closer to the third exception. Whether a particular project fits is for the methodology, the validation and verification body (VVB) and Verra to say.
The methodology can change the answer
Where a methodology sets its own geographic applicability conditions for an activity, those take precedence over the table's default. So the table is the first filter, not the last. Read the geographic conditions in the methodology you would apply before you pay for project design.
Example: three plants, three answers (example plants)
- A forging unit replaces coal with piped natural gas. It is a fossil fuel switch, so by default it is not eligible in India.
- A boiler house burns flare gas that used to be vented. Captured flare or vent gas is named as not restricted.
- A foundry fits an oxygen sensor and burns less furnace oil for the same castings. This is nearer to improving the efficient use of a fossil fuel, and the methodology decides.
Example plants, not real projects. Table 1 is the default; the applied methodology can override it.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads fuel invoices and slips into monthly tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) from published factors, the baseline record any methodology starts from. Eligibility is decided by Verra, the methodology and your verifier, not by Senseible, and credits come only from the registry.
Sources: Verra, VCS Standard v5.0 (16 December 2025), Section 2.1, Table 1
Last reviewed 2026-11-04. Section numbers are from VCS Standard v5.0 (16 December 2025); re-check them when Verra publishes a new version. Table 1 is the default, and the methodology you apply can set its own geography.