GS1005 Qori Q'oncha - Improved cookstoves diffusion programme in Peru - VPA2

Audit Analysis

The Qori Q'oncha cookstove programme in Peru is a long-running Gold Standard project with VVB-confirmed additionality and a recently reassessed baseline, but it carries significant integrity concerns including a 63.43% old-stove removal rate (below the 80% threshold), no buffer pool, a 0% leakage deduction, and an extensive list of material findings and corrective actions spanning data inconsistencies, missing maintenance, and beneficiary dismantling of stoves. The project over-delivers relative to its ex-ante estimate, which is a positive for claim safety, but the sheer volume of compliance issues and documentation gaps temper confidence in the overall credit quality.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠GRM removal rate of old stoves is 63.43%, below the 80% threshold, undermining the additionality premise that baseline stoves are being displaced
• ⚠No buffer pool is in place despite the absence of a permanence mechanism for a project with reported stove dismantling by beneficiaries
• ⚠Leakage deduction is 0% with a 'quantified' justification, yet the project-specific baseline and lack of jurisdictional data make the zero-leakage claim difficult to substantiate
• ⚠Annual monitoring reports for 2018, 2019, and 2020 were not submitted as required by Gold Standard, creating a multi-year data gap
• ⚠Double-counting risks were identified due to repeated or absent IDs in end-user lists, raising the possibility of over-crediting

Credit Vintages