Promoting Clean Cooking Solutions for the Disadvantaged Households in Nepal

Audit Analysis

A Gold Standard improved-cookstove project in Nepal with VVB-confirmed additionality, a quantified 5% leakage deduction, and no reversal events, but undermined by the absence of a buffer pool, a project-specific baseline, and 22 corrective actions that reveal significant monitoring-report quality gaps. The verified emission reductions (14,277 tCO₂e) represent roughly 55% of the pro-rata annual ex-ante expectation, indicating conservative delivery. Multiple data contradictions across documents—particularly in ERR figures and the fNRB method—reduce confidence in the consistency of the project record.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠22 corrective actions were required in the 2023 verification cycle, covering missing monitoring parameters, inconsistent ICS counts, unexplained fNRB changes, and lack of transparency in SDG benefit calculations
• ⚠The ex-ante lifetime ERR figure differs between the 2018 PDD (105,041 tCO₂e) and the 2022 PDD (129,108 tCO₂e), a 23% increase that is not clearly explained in the extracted record
• ⚠FPIC was not conducted, which is a gap for a project targeting disadvantaged households in Nepal
• ⚠The ex-ante annual emission reductions did not account for linear decrease in stove efficiency, as flagged in the corrective actions

Credit Vintages