Myanmar Stoves Campaign - Soneva in Myanmar - VPA No. 020

Audit Analysis

The Myanmar Stoves Campaign is a cookstove efficiency project under the Gold Standard Simplified Methodology with a barrier additionality test and a 5% quantified leakage deduction. However, the more recent verification report (September 2024) indicates additionality was not confirmed by the VVB, contradicting the earlier validation report, and the project carries over 30 corrective actions and 14 material findings related to calculation and documentation errors. The verified emissions reductions for the first monitoring period are roughly 2.4 times the pro-rata ex-ante expectation, raising over-crediting concerns that warrant further scrutiny.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Additionality was not verified by the VVB per the September 2024 verification report, directly contradicting the October 2023 validation report which recorded it as verified — the more recent document is privileged, leaving additionality in an unconfirmed state.
• ⚠Verified ERR of 25,668 tCO2e for the 18-month monitoring period is approximately 238% of the pro-rata ex-ante expectation (~10,773 tCO2e), a level of over-delivery that is unusual and may indicate a baseline or ex-ante estimation error.
• ⚠Over 30 corrective actions were required, including corrections to baseline calculations, emission reduction formulas, DFn values, and sample-size methodology, suggesting the initial documentation contained material computational errors.
• ⚠Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) was not conducted for a community-level cookstove project in Myanmar, a significant safeguard gap.
• ⚠No buffer pool percentage is stated in the available documents, leaving permanence risk unquantified despite the absence of a stated reversal mechanism.

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