GS5047 VPA51 African Improved Cookstoves and Clean Water Programme: Ibanda – Makera Forest Cook Stove Project II

Audit Analysis

This Gold Standard cookstove project in Rwanda has a VVB-verified additionality assessment and consistent usage rates, but is undermined by 12 outstanding corrective actions, two material findings (including a verification delay and incomplete surveys), a significant fNRB discrepancy between documents, and the absence of a buffer pool. The project's integrity and claim safety are materially weakened by calculation inconsistencies and the lack of permanence safeguards for a technology subject to breakdown and replacement.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠12 corrective actions remain open, including incorrect installation dates, unexplained increases in project technology days, missing baseline parameters (Nb,y and Pb,y), and a usage rate error transferred from a US calculation sheet
• ⚠fNRB value contradicts between the verification report (0.77) and the monitoring report (0.98) — the higher value in the monitoring report would inflate claimed credits by approximately 27%
• ⚠Verification for the period October 2020 to December 2021 was never submitted to SustainCERT due to delays attributed to the VVB itself
• ⚠FPIC was not conducted despite the project operating in a community setting in Rwanda

Credit Vintages