GS1290: Native Clean Water Programme Central America: VPA (01) Honduras

Audit Analysis

A Gold Standard water-filter project in Honduras with a verified combined additionality test but a long list of material findings including a 10× CH₄ emission-factor error, over-crediting of 556 tCO₂e in earlier periods, and a 0% leakage deduction whose justification is contradicted between the verification and monitoring reports. The verification process did catch and discount the over-claims, but the volume of corrective actions (30+) and the absence of a buffer pool for a project whose physical assets (filters) can fail leave meaningful integrity and permanence risk.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠CH₄ emission factor entered as 0.3 instead of 0.03 in initial ex-ante calculations — a 10× error that was later corrected
• ⚠Over-crediting of 556 tCO₂e for 2018–2020 due to exceeding the microscale cap, plus 5.584 tCO₂e from installation-date discrepancies
• ⚠Leakage deduction of 0% with contradictory justifications: the verification report (Mar 2024) says 'quantified' while the monitoring report (Jul 2024) says 'deemed negligible'
• ⚠FPIC not conducted despite the project serving local/indigenous communities in Honduras

Credit Vintages