GS5047 VPA2 African Improved Cookstoves and Clean Water Programme: Virunga Mountain Gorilla Cookstove Project Nyabihu I

Audit Analysis

A Gold Standard cookstove project in Rwanda with VVB-confirmed additionality but significant gaps in permanence safeguards, leakage treatment, and verified emission data. The verification report flags that actual reductions are considerably below ex-ante estimates, and two corrective actions remain open. Multiple contradictions between documents—particularly on leakage justification and safeguards—reduce confidence in the data record.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Leakage deduction of 0% with contradictory justification: the verification report (Feb 2024) states leakage was 'not addressed' while the monitoring report (Feb 2024) claims it was 'deemed negligible'—no quantified analysis supports either position
• ⚠Material finding in the verification report: actual SDG 13 emission reductions are 'considerably below estimated values due to lower usage rate and KPT results', indicating ex-ante assumptions were overly optimistic
• ⚠No buffer pool percentage stated and reversal events explicitly 'not addressed'—a material gap for a cookstove project where devices can break, be replaced, or fall out of use
• ⚠Two open corrective actions (FAR#1 and FAR#2) require the project developer to update the TDR database for three specific cookstoves before the next verification cycle

Credit Vintages