TUIK RUCH LEW IMPROVED COOKSTOVE PROJECT FOR LAKE ATITLAN

Audit Analysis

The Tuik Ruch Lew cookstove project in Guatemala has VVB-confirmed additionality and a quantified leakage deduction, but is undermined by a severe leakage figure contradiction between the PDD (95%) and the monitoring report (5%), calculation errors flagged by the VVB, absence of FPIC, and a very large gap between the PDD's lifetime estimate and the verified monitoring-period result. The project delivered only about 12% of the pro-rata expectation for the elapsed monitoring period, which is conservative but raises questions about baseline assumptions and data reliability.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Leakage deduction contradicts between documents: the PDD states 95% while the monitoring report states 5% — a 19× difference that fundamentally changes the credit volume and cannot be reconciled without further clarification
• ⚠The VVB identified calculation errors and inconsistencies in the SD VISTA MR Calculations Spreadsheet (CAR 01), undermining confidence in the reported 975 tCO2e figure
• ⚠FPIC was not conducted according to the verification report, despite the monitoring report suggesting it was — a direct contradiction on a fundamental safeguard requirement
• ⚠Registry status is 'Late to verify', indicating the project is behind its verification schedule
• ⚠Usage monitoring relies on self-reporting per the verification report, with no independent verification of stove usage rates

Credit Vintages