GS11677 GS11902 Malawi Biomass Energy Conservation Programme CPA 11

Audit Analysis

A Gold Standard biomass cookstove project in Malawi with VVB-confirmed additionality and a quantified 5% leakage deduction, but undermined by seven cross-document contradictions (including a 40× discrepancy in ERR figures and conflicting crediting periods), the absence of a stated buffer pool, and a formal audit finding on double-claiming risk. The project's core design is sound under AMS-II.G, yet the data reliability issues and pending corrective actions materially weaken confidence in the reported credits.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠ERR figure discrepancy: the verification report (2023-08-23) reports 1,534,828 tCO₂e while the PDD (2020-07-08) states 38,778 tCO₂e — a factor-of-40 gap that is never reconciled in the extracted record
• ⚠Crediting period conflict: the monitoring report (2023-07-14) gives 2016-10-15 to 2025-03-31 (~8.5 yr) while the validation report (2022-07-04) gives 2021-10-15 to 2036-10-14 (15 yr); the two cannot both be correct
• ⚠Formal audit finding (FAR 01) requires a declaration that no CERs and GSVERs are issued for the same vintage, indicating a live double-claiming risk that has not yet been closed
• ⚠Usage-rate assumed appears in two incompatible units across PDD versions (365 days vs 0.6696 fraction), creating ambiguity in the ex-ante calculation basis

Credit Vintages