GS11935 GS11934 RVPA-31 Promoting sustainable use of biomass energy resources in targeted communities

Audit Analysis

A Gold Standard cookstove project in Nepal with VVB-verified additionality and a quantified 5% leakage deduction, but significant gaps in permanence safeguards (no buffer pool, reversal risk unaddressed), a contradictory FPIC record, and an aggressive 100% usage-rate assumption. The project is at the validation stage with no monitoring data yet, and multiple document contradictions reduce confidence in the underlying data.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠No buffer pool or permanence mechanism identified; reversal events explicitly 'not addressed' in the validation report, creating unquantified risk that cookstoves will be replaced or fall out of use within the 5-year crediting period
• ⚠FPIC status is contradictory: the 2024 validation report states FPIC was not conducted, while an earlier 2023 validation report states it was — the more recent document is privileged, leaving a safeguards gap
• ⚠Usage rate assumed at 100% in the validation report, contradicted by an appendix value of 1 (likely a unit or transcription error), making the actual utilisation assumption unclear
• ⚠Six Forward Action Requests (FARs) raised by the VVB, including concerns about the 2010 baseline survey's relevance, double-counting demonstration, and grievance mechanism placement, indicate unresolved methodological questions

Credit Vintages