GS1247 VPA189 Southern Ethiopia Efficient Cook Stoves

Audit Analysis

A Gold Standard cook-stove efficiency project in Southern Ethiopia with VVB-confirmed additionality, no reversal events, and a quantified 5% leakage deduction, but undermined by an extensive list of material findings, numerous corrective actions, a project-specific baseline, and no stated buffer pool. The 2026 verification report resolves several earlier contradictions in favour of more conservative values (lower fNRB, quantified leakage), yet the sheer volume of data-quality corrections and the absence of a lifetime ex-ante ERR estimate limit confidence in the credit figures.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠343 non-functional stoves identified during a May 2025 maintenance campaign, yet the survey reported 100% usage; the 90% cap was applied as a corrective measure, raising questions about the reliability of the usage-rate data.
• ⚠The 2026 verification report lists approximately 30 material findings and 20 corrective actions, including transcription errors, formula errors, and inconsistencies in distributed vs. active stove counts, indicating a fragile MRV process.
• ⚠The fNRB value shifted from 0.93 (local field, 2024 report) to 0.83 (national default, 2026 report); the material findings note the 2024 value was updated from an expired CDM default, suggesting the underlying non-recurring benefit calculation has been unstable across reporting cycles.
• ⚠An ongoing conflict in Northern Ethiopia triggered a national emergency, which is flagged in the verification report but whose impact on project operations, supply chains, and baseline assumptions is not quantified.

Credit Vintages