GS1247 VPA 305 - Togo Safe Water

Audit Analysis

This Gold Standard VPA under a multi-country cookstove/safe-water PoA has VVB-verified additionality and a measured project-specific baseline, but is undermined by nine cross-document contradictions (including a 5× discrepancy in claimed ERR, conflicting leakage deductions, and opposing fNRB values), a large backlog of open findings and corrective actions, and the absence of any verified ERR figure against which to judge over- or under-delivery. The project's claim safety is materially weakened by the inability to reconcile the ex-ante estimates across its own documents.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Claimed ERR differs by a factor of five between two PDD versions (9,919 tCO₂e in the 2021 PDD vs 50,000 tCO₂e in the 2020 PDD), with no verified ERR available to anchor the correct figure
• ⚠Leakage deduction is 0% in the 2023 monitoring report but 5% in the 2023 PDD; the justification shifts from 'quantified' to 'deemed negligible' across documents
• ⚠Five open findings (FAR 01–05) require VPA-level SDG indicator evaluation, fNRB reporting, and monitoring-option applicability demonstration that remain unresolved
• ⚠Crediting period start date conflicts: 2025-05-01 (validation report, 2025) vs 2013-05-01 (PDD, 2023), creating ambiguity about the actual crediting window

Credit Vintages