Improved Cooking Stoves in Bangladesh – CPA No.14 “SZ Consultancy Services Ltd.”

Audit Analysis

This Gold Standard improved cooking stove project in Bangladesh shows a conservative delivery profile (verified emissions reductions at roughly 48% of the pro-rata ex-ante expectation), but is undermined by a critical additionality verification gap, a direct contradiction on FPIC status between the PDD and the latest verification report, and an extensive list of material findings and corrective actions that raise concerns about data reliability and documentation quality.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Additionality was confirmed by the VVB in the 2022 verification report but explicitly NOT verified in the 2024 verification report — a direct contradiction that undermines the project's additionality claim.
• ⚠FPIC is stated as conducted in the PDD (2022) but the 2024 verification report records it as not conducted, creating a safeguards compliance gap.
• ⚠Seventeen material findings were logged in the 2024 verification report, including missing survey dates, blank respondent data, missing documentary evidence (sales receipts, training certificates, operation manuals), and inconsistencies between the ER worksheet, monitoring report, and submitted documents.
• ⚠CORSIA eligibility is conditional: the verification report states issued GSVERs 'will not be marked CORSIA eligible until further notice,' yet the project is flagged as CORSIA-eligible in the registry record.
• ⚠Multiple corrective actions remain open, including SDG 8 actual values exceeding ex-ante estimates without justification and discrepancies in monitoring survey form counts.

Credit Vintages