GS1729 Myanmar Stoves Campaign - Soneva in Myanmar - VPA No. 017

Audit Analysis

This Gold Standard cookstove project in Myanmar has a VVB-confirmed additionality assessment and a quantified 5% leakage deduction, but is undermined by 11 material findings, 18 corrective actions, calculation errors in the baseline and project scenario, and a 9-percentage-point gap between the assumed (100%) and verified (91.38%) usage rate. Multiple contradictions across monitoring and verification reports—particularly in ERR figures and the crediting period—raise data-reliability concerns. The absence of a buffer pool, FPIC, and a stated permanence mechanism further weakens the integrity profile.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠18 corrective actions required in the 2023 verification report, spanning calculation errors, missing stakeholder evidence, and methodology inconsistencies
• ⚠11 material findings including an incorrect baseline stove-usage rate (values rounded up), an incorrect non-CO2 emission factor, and survey confidence not demonstrated transparently
• ⚠Usage rate assumed at 100% in the ex-ante estimate but verified at only 91.38% in the 2023 monitoring report—a 9-percentage-point overstatement
• ⚠FPIC not conducted despite the project operating in Myanmar with local community beneficiaries
• ⚠No buffer pool or permanence mechanism documented; no reversal events reported but no safeguard against them

Credit Vintages