Efficient Wood Fuel Stove-Cooking-Sets, Lesotho

Audit Analysis

This CDM household cookstove project in Lesotho has a VVB-confirmed additionality assessment and a quantified 5% leakage deduction, but is undermined by a project-specific baseline that failed to meet the 90/10 precision requirement, an extensive list of validation-stage material findings, and a verified usage rate of only 77.66%. The project's documentation, while extensive (15 documents), carried 22 corrective actions at validation, and key eligibility statuses (CORSIA, CCP) remain unstated.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Baseline survey did not achieve the 90/10 precision requirement, with the lower bound of the 90% confidence interval at 10.189 kg fuel wood per day per household — undermining baseline reliability
• ⚠22 corrective actions were required at validation, including insufficiently evidenced additionality barriers, missing monitoring frequency, and unclarified leakage monitoring
• ⚠Claimed ERR decreased from 28,654 (2019 report) to 25,316 (2021 report), an unexplained ~12% reduction between monitoring reports
• ⚠Verified usage rate of 77.66% means roughly one in four stoves was not in active use, raising questions about the ex-ante activity assumption
• ⚠CORSIA eligibility and CCP status are not stated in any available document, leaving dual-channel risk unassessed

Credit Vintages