GS1247 VPA 183 Lango Safe Water Project

Audit Analysis

The Lango Safe Water Project is a Gold Standard VPA covering borehole-based safe water supply in Uganda, verified by Re Carbon Ltd. Additionality is VVB-confirmed via a combined test and no reversal events have been reported, but the project suffers from significant operational degradation (72% operationality, water quality failures at multiple boreholes), a 0% leakage deduction with no supporting justification, and no buffer pool. The extensive list of corrective actions and open forward action requests indicate ongoing monitoring and compliance gaps that undermine confidence in the robustness of the emission reduction claims.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Leakage deduction of 0% with justification described as 'not addressed' in the 2025 verification report, despite the PDD originally proposing a 5% deduction — a material inconsistency for a project where users can revert to open water sources
• ⚠No buffer pool percentage stated in any available document, leaving no financial or credit-based protection against potential reversal or operational failure
• ⚠Severe operational degradation: breakdown days increased to 16,883 (72% operationality), time reduction in water collection halved from 60.7% to 28.5%, and 6 boreholes failed water quality tests with 3 months of crediting removed for each
• ⚠5 boreholes were not active during the monitoring period due to water quality failures, and 1,135 failure days were recorded across boreholes
• ⚠Multiple open Forward Action Requests (FAR 01–05) remain unresolved, including VPA-level SDG indicator evaluation and fNRB reporting

Credit Vintages