GS1729 Myanmar Stoves Campaign - Soneva in Myanmar - VPA No. 014

Audit Analysis

The Myanmar Stoves Campaign is a cookstove efficiency project under Gold Standard with a quantified 5% leakage deduction and a named VVB, but it is undermined by the absence of VVB-confirmed additionality, a missing FPIC process, a 12.6% gap between assumed and verified usage rates, and 28 outstanding corrective actions. Six cross-document contradictions—including a four-fold discrepancy in verified emissions reductions—create material uncertainty about the reliability of the claimed credits.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Additionality was not confirmed by the VVB in the 2024 verification report, contradicting the 2023 validation report; the more recent verification report is privileged.
• ⚠Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) was not conducted, a significant safeguard gap for a community-level cookstove project in Myanmar.
• ⚠The monitoring report (Feb 2024) records verified ERR of 6,574 tCO₂e while the verification report (Apr 2024) records 25,298 tCO₂e — a four-fold discrepancy that is unexplained.
• ⚠28 corrective actions remain open, spanning data corrections, sampling methodology, stakeholder consultation records, and parameter justifications.
• ⚠Usage rate assumed at 100% in ex-ante calculations but verified at only 87.39%, a 12.6% shortfall that was not reflected in the ex-ante estimate.

Credit Vintages