GS1247 VPA 192 Zambia Eastern Province Safe Water Project

Audit Analysis

This Gold Standard safe water project (borehole installation displacing firewood use) has VVB-verified additionality and no reversal events, but is undermined by an extensive list of open corrective actions, nine cross-document contradictions, and a significant gap between the claimed lifetime ERR (150,000 tCO₂e) and the verified figure for the monitoring period (14,266 tCO₂e). The leakage treatment is inconsistent across documents (0% in the verification report vs. 5% in the PDD), and no buffer pool percentage is stated. Overall, the project shows moderate structural soundness but weak operational and data-reliability performance.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Nine cross-document contradictions identified, including a 10× discrepancy in total ERR (150,000 in the 2023 verification report vs. 14,266 in the 2022 monitoring report) and conflicting leakage deductions (0% vs. 5%)
• ⚠Five Forward Action Requests (FAR 01–05) remain open, covering VPA-level SDG indicators, fNRB reporting, and monitoring justification
• ⚠27 boreholes failed water quality tests in Q1 2022 and 21 of 50 required professional flushing, indicating operational reliability concerns that affect the validity of emission reduction claims
• ⚠CORSIA eligibility and CCP status are both unstated, leaving dual-channel risk unassessed

Credit Vintages