GS1247 VPA 311 Guatemala Improved Cookstoves Project

Audit Analysis

This Gold Standard cookstove project in Guatemala has VVB-verified additionality and a quantified 5% leakage deduction, but is undermined by a significant gap between assumed (90%) and verified (77.71%) usage rates, a more-than-doubling of the fNRB value between validation and verification, and an extensive list of open findings and corrective actions. The project-specific baseline and absence of a stated buffer pool leave moderate permanence and over-crediting risk. Multiple cross-document contradictions, particularly on fNRB, leakage, and crediting period, reduce confidence in the data record.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Usage rate assumed at 90% in the verification report but only 77.71% verified in the monitoring report — a 13.6-percentage-point overestimate that inflates claimed reductions
• ⚠fNRB value more than doubled from 0.3 (validation report, 2022) to 0.69 (verification report, 2026), with the method shifting from local field data to national defaults, raising questions about the robustness of the original additionality case
• ⚠Extensive list of open Findings and Recommendations (FAR 01–05) and numerous corrective actions remain unresolved, including revalidation of the fNRB calculation and VPA-level SDG indicator evaluation
• ⚠Crediting period contradicts between documents: 2020–2027 (verification report, 2026) vs 2025–2030 (validation report, 2025), creating ambiguity about the applicable crediting window

Credit Vintages