Restoration of degraded areas and reforestation in Cáceres and Cravo Norte, Colombia

Audit Analysis

This Colombian reforestation project (VCS-576) has a verified additionality test and a 27% buffer pool, but suffers from a severe loss event (54,670 tCO₂e, representing 22% of prior carbon stocks) caused by illegal mining, the complete exclusion of the Cravo Norte site due to plantation failure, and an extensive list of material findings and corrective actions. The project delivered only about 42% of its pro-rata ex-ante expectation for the 2014–2021 monitoring period, and the leakage justification shifted from a quantified deduction in 2015 to 'deemed negligible' in 2023 without clear reconciliation. Overall, the project's integrity and claim safety are materially compromised by the permanence loss and documentation inconsistencies.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Loss event of 54,670 tCO₂e (22% of prior verified carbon stocks) due to illegal mining and deforestation; the project proponent failed to report this within the required timeline
• ⚠Cravo Norte site — named in the project title — was entirely excluded from verification because plantations failed, reducing the effective project area
• ⚠Leakage deduction changed from a quantified value in the 2015 verification report to 0% 'deemed negligible' in the 2023 report, with no clear reconciliation of the change
• ⚠Ex-ante lifetime estimate revised downward by approximately 25% (from 1,054,854 to 791,808 tCO₂e) between the 2015 issuance and the 2023 verification
• ⚠12+ corrective actions and 15+ material findings identified in the 2023 verification, including missing loss-event demonstration, incorrect KML boundaries, and unexplained methodology change from AR-AM0005 to AR-ACM0003

Credit Vintages