Forestal Apepu Carbon Project

Audit Analysis

The Forestal Apepu project is a VCS eucalyptus plantation in Paraguay with VVB-confirmed additionality and a 17% buffer pool, but it is undermined by a weak 0% leakage deduction (contradicted by the PDD's 'quantified' treatment), a project-specific baseline with no stated reassessment date, a reported drought-related reversal of 26 ha, and an extensive list of material findings and corrective actions that reveal significant calculation and reporting inconsistencies across documents. The project delivered roughly 74% of its pro-rata ex-ante expectation for the first monitoring period, indicating moderate under-delivery.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Leakage deduction of 0% justified as 'deemed negligible' in the 2024 verification report, while the PDD (2024-09-30) describes the treatment as 'quantified' — an unresolved contradiction that weakens confidence in the leakage assessment
• ⚠26 ha of plantation lost to drought in 2023/2024 (91 tCO2e subtracted), confirming real reversal risk in a soil-carbon plantation project
• ⚠Extensive material findings (20+ items) including inconsistent baseline and project emission calculations, incomplete leakage assessment from displacement of agricultural activities, and incorrect LTA calculations — all addressed via CARs but indicating systemic MRV quality issues
• ⚠Non-native eucalyptus species used without sufficient justification over native species, flagged in both material findings and corrective actions
• ⚠Additionality test type changed from 'combined' (2023 VR) to 'investment' (2024 VR) without clear explanation of the methodological shift

Credit Vintages Exhausted