GS1247 VPA 121 Zoba Debub Community Boreholes

Audit Analysis

A Gold Standard community borehole project in Eritrea with VVB-confirmed additionality and a recently reassessed project-specific baseline, but weakened by a 0% leakage deduction justified only as 'deemed negligible' (the PDD originally proposed 5%), multiple unresolved data contradictions across monitoring and verification reports, and the absence of a buffer pool. The project is an energy-efficiency type with inherently low reversal risk, and all material findings from the 2024 verification were resolved, though forward action requests flag ongoing monitoring gaps.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Leakage deduction of 0% justified only as 'deemed negligible' while the PDD (2023) originally proposed a 5% deduction — the reduction is not adequately explained in the verification report
• ⚠Contradiction in total ERR figures: one monitoring report records 79,172 tCO2e while another records 4,108 tCO2e, with no clear explanation of the basis difference (lifetime vs. per-period)
• ⚠Additionality test type is inconsistent across documents: the 2018 verification report states a financial test, while the 2023 PDD describes a combined test — the basis for the additionality claim is ambiguous
• ⚠No buffer pool is in place; while reversal risk is low for an energy-efficiency project, the verification report marks reversal events as 'not addressed' rather than explicitly confirming their absence

Credit Vintages