GS11935 GS11934 RVPA-25 Promoting sustainable use of biomass energy resources in targeted communities

Audit Analysis

A Gold Standard cookstove project in Nepal with a solid additionality assessment (combined test confirmed by the VVB) and a quantified 5% leakage deduction, but weakened by an unaddressed permanence/reversal risk, a project-specific baseline with no reassessment date, an aggressive 100% usage-rate assumption, and a direct contradiction on whether FPIC was conducted. The validation process was thorough (multiple CLs, CARs, and FARs raised and closed), but the absence of a monitoring report and low document-extraction confidence limit confidence in the overall record.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Reversal events are explicitly 'not addressed' and no buffer pool percentage is stated, leaving permanence risk unquantified for a 5-year crediting period
• ⚠100% usage rate is assumed with no verified usage rate available, and the VVB raised a FAR questioning the relevance of a 2010 baseline survey for firewood consumption
• ⚠Direct contradiction between the validation report (FPIC conducted = yes) and the PDD (FPIC conducted = no) on a core safeguard requirement
• ⚠Feedstock sustainability and carbon content testing are not stated in any available document for a biomass-based project

Credit Vintages