GS1247 VPA 195 Zambia Eastern Province Safe Water Project

Audit Analysis

This Gold Standard safe water project under a multi-country cookstove VPA has VVB-confirmed additionality and no reported reversals, but is undermined by eight cross-document contradictions (including a usage-rate discrepancy of 0.9 versus 15), the absence of any verified ERR figure, a project-specific baseline, and a large backlog of open corrective actions and findings. The sector classification mismatch (industrial vs. domestic) and the application of a cookstove methodology to water treatment add further uncertainty to the integrity of the claimed reductions.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Usage rate assumed at 0.9 in the 2023 PDD but recorded as 15 in a 2022 appendix — a discrepancy of an order of magnitude that directly affects the magnitude of claimed reductions
• ⚠No verified ERR figure found in any available document; the 9,414 tCO₂e claimed cannot be independently cross-checked
• ⚠Eight contradictions across documents, including conflicting leakage treatments (quantified 5% vs. deemed negligible 0%), conflicting fNRB methods (local field vs. national default), and conflicting crediting periods (2025–2030 vs. 2013–2020)
• ⚠Extensive list of open corrective actions and findings (FAR 01–05 still open) covering SDG indicators, fNRB reporting, and monitoring justification
• ⚠Sector classified as 'industrial' despite being a domestic safe water / energy efficiency project, and a cookstove methodology (TPDDTEC v.4.0) applied to water treatment technologies

Credit Vintages

No issuances recorded on the registry.