GS1729 Myanmar Stoves Campaign - Soneva in Myanmar - VPA No. 016

Audit Analysis

A Gold Standard cookstove efficiency project in Myanmar with VVB-confirmed additionality but significant documentation quality issues, including 27 material findings and 27 corrective actions. The project delivered roughly 46% of its pro-rata ex-ante expectation for the monitoring period, reflecting conservative actual performance against optimistic initial assumptions (100% usage rate vs. 83.6% verified). Multiple contradictions across documents and the absence of a buffer pool or stated permanence mechanism limit confidence in long-term integrity.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠27 material findings and 27 corrective actions identified by the VVB, including calculation errors in baseline and project emissions, discount factor inconsistencies, and stove count discrepancies (1,410 vs 1,499)
• ⚠Usage rate assumed at 100% in the ex-ante estimate but verified at only 83.6%, a 16.4% gap that inflates the initial credit estimate
• ⚠Discrepancy between the PoA total of 30,000 stoves and the VPA figure of 1,610 stoves, raising questions about project scope clarity
• ⚠Leakage deduction reduced from 5% (2022 verification) to 0% (2023 verification) with only a 'quantified' justification, without clear explanation of the change

Credit Vintages