BioLite Improved Cook stoves Programme - CPA 015 supported by Republic of Korea

Audit Analysis

The BioLite Improved Cook Stoves Programme in Uganda is a Gold Standard energy-efficiency project with VVB-confirmed additionality, a quantified 5% leakage deduction, and no reported reversal events. However, the project is burdened by ten cross-document contradictions, over twenty corrective actions, and a verified ERR figure that exceeds the claimed figure, raising material data-reliability concerns. The extensive list of material findings—ranging from ER corrections to missing documentary evidence—indicates a monitoring and reporting process that, while ultimately overseen by a VVB, has significant quality-control weaknesses.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Verified ERR (180,153 tCO2e, monitoring report Feb 2026) exceeds the claimed ERR (156,789 tCO2e, verification report Dec 2025), an inversion that undermines confidence in the MRV chain
• ⚠Ten contradictions across documents, including a 17× discrepancy in the FNRB value (0.807 vs 78.75) and a 17× discrepancy in total ERR (156,789 vs 2,649,011), suggesting unit or scope confusion between the PDD, issuance, and verification documents
• ⚠Over twenty corrective actions required, including missing end-user databases, sales records, photos, and training records—core evidence for an energy-efficiency project
• ⚠Crediting period inconsistency: the validation report states a 20-year period (2018–2038) while the verification report states a 5-year period (2019–2024), with no clear explanation of the GS4GG transition in the extracted record
• ⚠No buffer pool percentage is stated in any available document, leaving permanence risk unquantified

Credit Vintages