Dak Mi 4 Hydropower Project, Vietnam

Audit Analysis

The Dak Mi 4 Hydropower Project is a small CDM-registered hydro scheme with VVB-confirmed additionality, but its integrity is undermined by seven corrective action requests, contradictory baseline and leakage characterisations across documents, and a 0% leakage deduction whose justification is inconsistent between the validation and monitoring reports. Transparency is limited by the absence of verified ERR figures, FNRB data, and CORSIA/CCP status in the extracted record. Overall, the project presents moderate-to-elevated risk of over-crediting and documentation weakness.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Seven corrective action requests (CARs) were raised during verification, including missing surface-water permits, an outdated methodology version (11 vs 19), PDD non-compliance with EB 66 Annex 47, an outdated grid emission factor, a monitoring-formula mismatch, an incorrect crediting-period start date, and a stale MOC.
• ⚠Leakage justification is contradictory: the 2022 monitoring report states leakage was 'quantified' while the 2019 validation report states it was 'deemed negligible,' yet the applied deduction is 0% in both cases.
• ⚠Baseline method is contradictory: the monitoring report describes a project-specific baseline while the validation report references a jurisdictional baseline, creating uncertainty about which baseline underpins the claimed 1,121,202 tCO₂e.
• ⚠No buffer pool percentage is stated in any available document, leaving permanence risk unquantified despite the absence of reported reversal events.

Credit Vintages