# Can a rice husk boiler or gasifier earn Verra credits for industrial heat in India?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/verra-biomass-industrial-heat-gasification-exception

Not as a plain boiler, by default. Verra's VCS Standard v5.0 limits new projects that burn non-renewable, agro-residue or forest residue biomass for industrial power or heat to least developed countries (LDCs). India is not one. Gasification, pyrolysis, biogas, biofuels and thermal efficiency improvements are listed as not restricted.

## The restricted row

Table 1 in Section 2.1 of VCS Standard v5.0 covers generating electricity or thermal energy for industrial use from the combustion of non-renewable biomass, agro-residue biomass or forest residue biomass. The default for new registrations and crediting period renewals is activities in LDCs. India is not on the United Nations list of LDCs.

## Industrial uses the standard lists as not restricted

- Gasification.
- Pyrolysis, for example biochar production.
- Combusting biofuels.
- Biogas.
- Fractions of renewable biomass in refuse-derived fuels.
- Agro or forest biomass residues in waste streams sent to landfills.
- Carbon dioxide capture and storage from biomass combustion.
- Thermal efficiency improvements, such as cookstoves.

## Boiler versus gasifier

A husk-fired boiler that replaces coal is combustion of agro-residue biomass for industrial heat, which is the restricted case. A husk gasifier that makes producer gas for a furnace is gasification, which the table lists as not restricted. That is a listing against the default only. The methodology's own applicability conditions, additionality and the verifier's review still apply, so it is a reason to look further, not an approval.

## Carbon dioxide from the biomass itself

Eligibility is one question and counting is another. The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard asks a company to report direct carbon dioxide (CO2) from burning biomass or biofuels separately from its scopes. Check how the methodology you choose treats it.

## Example: the same husk, two set-ups (example plant)

- Set-up 1: a boiler burns husk to make steam, replacing coal. Agro-residue combustion for industrial heat. Restricted by default in India.
- Set-up 2: a gasifier turns husk into gas for a melting furnace. Gasification is on the not restricted list. The methodology and the verifier still decide.

Example set-ups only. Table 1 sets a default; it does not approve any project.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, so coal, coke or charcoal use before the change and the husk and power use after it sit in one dated trail. Eligibility is for Verra, the methodology and your verifier to decide; Senseible does not decide it.

- [Carbon credits](https://senseible.earth/carbon-credits)
- [Rice husk gasifier for a small brass unit](https://senseible.earth/answers/brass-rice-husk-gasifier-60kg-rental-model)
- [Biomass power and the CCP label](https://senseible.earth/answers/biomass-power-credits-ccp-label)
- [Biogenic CO2 in a GHG report](https://senseible.earth/answers/iso-14064-1-biogenic-co2-reporting)

Sources: [Verra, VCS Standard v5.0 (16 December 2025), Section 2.1, Table 1](https://verra.org/documents/vcs-standard-v5-0/), [GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, revised edition, Chapter 9](https://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/standards/ghg-protocol-revised.pdf)

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.