OKA 2 PROJECT

Audit Analysis

The Oka 2 Project is a VCS ALM soil-carbon project in the DRC with a confirmed investment-test additionality and a 15% buffer pool, but it carries significant integrity concerns including an unaddressed permanence risk around Acacia mangium final-cut loss, an unreported methodology deviation in ex-ante ERR calculation, and a 0% leakage deduction deemed negligible for a soil-carbon context. The project delivered roughly 26% of its pro-rata ex-ante expectation for the elapsed monitoring period, suggesting conservative crediting but also questioning the robustness of the original baseline estimate. Extensive material findings (17 items) and corrective actions (17 items) were raised and closed during verification, indicating a project that required substantial remediation before issuance.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠No evidence provided that Acacia mangium carbon stocks will not be lost due to a final cut, a critical permanence gap for a soil-carbon project
• ⚠Unreported methodology deviation in the ex-ante GHG ERR calculation identified during verification
• ⚠Leakage deduction of 0% deemed negligible for a soil-carbon project in the DRC, with the justification downgraded from 'quantified' in the validation report to 'deemed negligible' in the verification report
• ⚠Conflicting information regarding the displacement of pre-project agricultural activities undermines baseline integrity
• ⚠Project-specific baseline rather than a jurisdictional or standardised approach, with no documented baseline reassessment date

Credit Vintages