CPA 052 – Charcoal Stoves in Kenya

Audit Analysis

The BioLite Improved Cook Stoves Programme in Kenya is a well-structured energy-efficiency project with VVB-confirmed additionality, a quantified 5% leakage deduction, and no reported reversal events. However, the project-specific (non-jurisdictional) baseline, absence of a buffer pool, a notable discrepancy between the PDD lifetime estimate and the verified monitoring-period figure, and a cluster of resolved but numerous corrective actions temper confidence in the robustness of the claims.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠The PDD (Nov 2024) lifetime ERR estimate of 1,498,873 tCO₂e implies a pro-rata expectation of roughly 50,000 tCO₂e for the 6-month monitoring period, yet the 2025 verification report confirms 238,682 tCO₂e — a ratio of approximately 4.8× the pro-rata expectation, which warrants scrutiny of either the PDD baseline assumptions or the monitoring-period calculation.
• ⚠No buffer pool is in place; while reversal risk is low for an energy-efficiency project, the 2023 verification report left permanence 'not addressed' and only the 2025 monitoring report explicitly states no extreme events occurred.
• ⚠The baseline method is project-specific (measured) rather than jurisdictional, and the PDD (2021) originally described it as jurisdictional — the more recent 2025 verification report privileges the project-specific character, which is less conservative.
• ⚠SDG 1 (no poverty) monitoring was not conducted in the latest period and was flagged as a finding requiring correction in the next cycle.

Credit Vintages