Fortaleza Ituxi REDD Project

Audit Analysis

The Fortaleza Ituxi REDD project is a 24,300-hectare avoided-deforestation project in Lábrea, Brazil, currently placed On Hold by Verra following a verification that surfaced 18 non-conformities, one formal audit request, and a failure to submit the required Non-Permanence Risk report. While additionality was VVB-confirmed and no reversal events were reported, the project-specific modeled baseline, a negative net-emissions year in 2018, a buffer pool that was reduced from 21% to 10% between reporting cycles, and the inability to independently reproduce the project's calculations collectively undermine confidence in the integrity and transparency of the credit claims.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Registry status is On Hold per Verra notification letter, indicating the project is suspended pending resolution of material findings
• ⚠Non-Permanence Risk report was not submitted to the Verra Registry as a public document (material finding in the 2023 verification report)
• ⚠18 non-conformities, 1 formal audit request, and 3 observations were issued by the VVB team during verification
• ⚠The 2018 monitoring year recorded negative net GHG emission reductions of −150,889 tCO₂e, indicating the baseline overestimated avoided deforestation in that year
• ⚠Buffer pool percentage dropped from 21% (2021 verification report) to 10% (2023 verification report) without a clearly documented methodological justification in the extracted record

Credit Vintages