Institutional Improved Cookstoves for Schools and Institutions in Uganda

Audit Analysis

A Gold Standard cookstove project in Uganda with a VVB-confirmed investment additionality test, quantified 5% leakage deduction, and conservative national-default fNRB of 0.81. However, the project delivered only about 50% of its pro-rata ex-ante expectation for the 2024 monitoring period, the baseline is project-specific rather than jurisdictional, no buffer pool is documented for this avoidance project, and the VVB's accreditation had lapsed before the 2023 verification. Thirteen cross-document contradictions and a low extraction confidence further erode confidence in the data record.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠2024 verified ERR of 12,540 tCO2e is only ~50% of the pro-rata expectation (~24,972 tCO2e/year) derived from the 124,862 tCO2e lifetime ex-ante estimate over the 5-year crediting period, indicating significant under-delivery or an overly optimistic ex-ante baseline
• ⚠No buffer pool percentage is stated in any available document for this avoidance (cookstove) project, leaving reversal risk (stove failure, replacement, school withdrawal) unmitigated
• ⚠VVB (4K Earth Science) accreditation expired on 2022-09-05; a deviation was approved on 2023-04-14 to continue verification, raising questions about the independence and standing of the verification body
• ⚠Thirteen contradictions across documents, including a shift in baseline method from 'jurisdictional' (2020 monitoring report) to 'project' (2024 verification report) and a drop in the lifetime ex-ante ERR from 219,003 to 124,862 tCO2e between 2020 and 2024 monitoring reports
• ⚠Minimum extraction confidence is rated low, indicating at least one key document was poorly readable, which undermines the reliability of the extracted data

Credit Vintages