Inner Mongolia Chao’Er Improved Forest Management Project

Audit Analysis

The Inner Mongolia Chao'er Improved Forest Management Project has a VVB-verified investment additionality test and a 10% buffer pool, but is currently On Hold in the VCS registry with unresolved material findings. The project delivered only about 76% of its pro-rata expected emissions reductions for the 2015–2019 monitoring period, and the shift from a quantified leakage assessment (2016) to a 'deemed negligible' 0% deduction (2020) raises over-crediting concerns. Multiple contradictions between the 2014 validation and 2020 verification reports on safeguards, FPIC, and benefit-sharing indicate evolving compliance posture but also data-reliability issues.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Registry status is On Hold, indicating unresolved compliance issues despite closure of three corrective action requests
• ⚠Verified ERR of 343,998 tCO₂e is only ~76% of the pro-rata expectation (~450,175 tCO₂e) for the 5-year monitoring period out of the 20-year crediting period, suggesting under-delivery
• ⚠Leakage justification changed from 'quantified' in the 2016 verification to 'deemed negligible' with a 0% deduction in the 2020 verification, with no documented rationale for the change
• ⚠Buffer pool percentage decreased from 13% (2016 verification) to 10% (2020 verification) without a clear documented justification in the extracted record
• ⚠Three material findings at validation (timing conformance, non-permanence risk scoring, assumptions assessment) required corrective actions, and the project remains On Hold

Credit Vintages