GS7591 VPA 54 Improved Cookstove Distribution in Kayonza, Bugesera and Nyamasheke Districts of Rwanda (GS12228)

Audit Analysis

A Gold Standard cookstove project in Rwanda with a VVB-confirmed combined additionality test, a quantified 5% leakage deduction, and no reported reversal events. However, the project is burdened by over 20 material findings, six corrective actions, multiple cross-document contradictions (fNRB method, additionality verification, crediting period), and an exact match between claimed and verified ERR that raises over-crediting concerns. The absence of a buffer pool, a lifetime ex-ante estimate, and a project-specific baseline further limit confidence in the credit's integrity.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Claimed and verified ERR are identical (163,563 tCO₂e), suggesting the VVB may not have independently re-calculated the figure rather than verifying it against primary data.
• ⚠Over 20 material findings and 6 corrective actions across the verification and validation reports, including start-date inconsistencies, SDG value discrepancies, parameter unit errors (per-day vs per-week), and methodology application gaps.
• ⚠The fNRB method is reported as 'local field' in the verification report but 'national default' in the monitoring report, creating uncertainty about which value underpins the 0.9 fNRB.
• ⚠Crediting period contradicts between the monitoring report (2021–2027) and the validation report (2025–2030), making it unclear which period the 163,563 tCO₂e figure applies to.

Credit Vintages