Improved Cookstove Distribution in Kenya by EKI Phase 01

Audit Analysis

This VCS cookstove project in Kenya has a confirmed additionality assessment and a reputable VVB (RINA Services), but is undermined by a 70% downward revision of the lifetime emission-reduction estimate, a contradictory 0% leakage deduction labelled 'quantified,' and an unusually high volume of material findings and corrective actions (31 CARs) that raise serious questions about the robustness of the monitoring data and the reliability of the verified credits.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠The lifetime ex-ante emission-reduction estimate was revised down from 536,782 tCO₂e (validation report, Jan 2024) to 162,437 tCO₂e (verification report, Jan 2025), a 70% reduction that suggests the initial validation was significantly over-optimistic.
• ⚠The verification report records a 0% leakage deduction while the monitoring report (Jan 2025) records 5%, and the justification is labelled 'quantified'—a direct contradiction that undermines confidence in the leakage treatment.
• ⚠31 corrective action requests and over 30 material findings were raised during validation and verification, including substantive issues such as unremoved outliers, unexplained sample-size discrepancies (125 selected vs 104 surveyed), missing lag-day adjustments in the ER calculation, and non-replicable fuel-saving data analysis.

Credit Vintages