Eastern Cape Restoration Project, South Africa - Makhanda

Audit Analysis

The Eastern Cape Restoration Project is a VCS soil-carbon project validated by TÜV NORD CERT with a confirmed combined additionality test and a 13% buffer pool, but it carries significant concerns: the validated ERR (688,461 tCO₂e) is only ~13% of the PDD's original estimate (5,430,909 tCO₂e), 12 material findings and 3 corrective actions were raised during validation, FPIC was not conducted, and a 0% leakage deduction was applied to a soil-carbon project. The low extraction confidence and several missing data points further limit confidence in the project's overall robustness.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠The PDD (2022) estimated 5,430,909 tCO₂e in lifetime removals, but the validation report (2025) approved only 688,461 tCO₂e — an 87% reduction that signals the initial design was substantially over-estimated.
• ⚠Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) was not conducted despite the project involving local communities in South Africa; only a grievance mechanism and general safeguards are documented.
• ⚠A 0% leakage deduction was applied to a soil-carbon project, justified as 'deemed negligible' in the validation report, while an appendix document apparently described the leakage as 'quantified' — an unresolved contradiction.
• ⚠Twelve material findings and three corrective actions were raised during validation, including inconsistencies in baseline pools, project boundary maps, soil-type assessment, and transparency of carbon-calculation inputs.
• ⚠Minimum extraction confidence across the document set is rated 'low', and one document in the evidence list is typed as 'unknown', limiting assurance over the completeness of the record.

Credit Vintages

No issuances recorded on the registry.