BRAZILIAN AMAZON APD GROUPED PROJECT

Audit Analysis

This Brazilian Amazon REDD+ grouped project has a VVB-verified additionality test and a 12% buffer pool, but is undermined by an extraordinary volume of material findings (land disputes, calculation inconsistencies, missing deforestation-threat evidence), a project-specific baseline, and a verified one-year ERR that exceeds the entire lifetime ex-ante estimate. The sheer number of unresolved documentation gaps, stakeholder challenges to additionality, and explicit double-counting risk make this a high-risk credit.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Verified ERR for a single monitoring year (2,475,530 tCO₂e) exceeds the entire 100-year lifetime ex-ante estimate (2,198,904 tCO₂e), indicating a fundamental baseline or scope problem
• ⚠Stakeholder comments (referencing a Mongabay article) explicitly question whether the project was additional when initiated and whether it differs from a disputed deal
• ⚠Land tenure documentation gaps for several PAIs, including missing chains of domain and outdated certificates, plus active land disputes in Porongaba and Potiguar farms
• ⚠Explicit double-counting risk with jurisdictional REDD+ programs flagged in material findings and requiring continuous assessment
• ⚠Insufficient demonstration that the intention to deforest was prior to the project start date for new PAIs, undermining the additionality claim

Credit Vintages