GS11677 GS11902 Malawi Biomass Energy Conservation Programme CPA 13

Audit Analysis

A Gold Standard biomass cookstove project in Malawi with VVB-confirmed additionality, a quantified 5% leakage deduction, and no reported reversal events. However, the project relies on a project-specific baseline, the verified usage rate shows a notable discrepancy between reporting periods, and seven contradictions across documents—including a significant crediting-period mismatch—undermine confidence in the data record. The exact match between claimed and verified ERR (1,534,828) is transparent but leaves no independent ex-ante lifetime estimate against which to judge over- or under-delivery.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Crediting period stated as 2016-10-15 to 2025-03-31 in the monitoring report but 2021-10-15 to 2036-10-14 in the validation report — a 15-year discrepancy that affects the entire crediting framework
• ⚠Verified usage rate of 0.9206 (Aug 2023 verification) versus 0.7678 (Feb 2023 verification) — a 20% swing between two verification reports within the same year
• ⚠No lifetime ex-ante ERR estimate found in any document, making it impossible to assess whether the 1,534,828 tCO₂e verified figure is proportionate to the project's original design
• ⚠PDD (Jul 2020) lists a total ERR of 38,778 while the verification report (Aug 2023) reports 1,534,828 — a 40× difference that, while likely reflecting different time bases, is never reconciled in the available documents

Credit Vintages