GS1247 VPA 205 Sierra Leone Safe Water

Audit Analysis

This Gold Standard safe water project in Sierra Leone displaces thermal energy used for boiling water, with additionality confirmed by SustainCERT via a combined test. However, the project suffers from significant operational instability (4,193 non-functional borehole days, declining usage rates), a 0% leakage deduction with contradictory justifications across documents, no buffer pool, and an ongoing Gold Standard grievance review imposing temporary caps. The verified emissions reductions (86,933 tCO2e) represent only about 43% of the pro-rata ex-ante expectation for the two-year monitoring period, indicating substantial under-delivery that, while protective against over-crediting, raises serious questions about long-term project viability.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠4,193 non-functional borehole days across all VPAs during the monitoring period due to low water discharge and broken pump heads, with no exit strategy in place
• ⚠0% leakage deduction justified as 'quantified' in the verification report but 'deemed negligible' in the monitoring report, while the PDD originally specified a 5% deduction — the justification is inconsistent across documents
• ⚠Ongoing Gold Standard grievance review imposing temporary caps (300 users per borehole, 0.0004 T/L for Wb,y/Wp,y) that constrain credit generation and signal unresolved compliance issues
• ⚠Usage rate declined from 93.98% to 81.73% between monitoring periods, indicating deteriorating project performance
• ⚠Five open Findings and Recommendations (FAR 01–05) remain unaddressed, including VPA-level SDG indicator evaluation and fNRB reporting

Credit Vintages