Up Energy Improved Cookstoves Programme, Uganda – CPA No 004

Audit Analysis

The Up Energy Improved Cookstoves Programme in Uganda is a large-scale domestic energy-efficiency project under Gold Standard with a project-specific baseline (reassessed 2024) and a 5% quantified leakage deduction. However, the verified emissions reductions for the July–December 2024 monitoring period (200,769 tCO₂e) exceed the pro-rata share of the lifetime ex-ante estimate (~9,125 tCO₂e) by roughly 22-fold, raising serious over-crediting concerns. Numerous material findings, corrective actions, and cross-document contradictions in key parameters (additionality test type, fNRB method, FPIC status, usage rates) further erode confidence in the data integrity.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Verified ERR for the 6-month monitoring period (200,769 tCO₂e) is approximately 22× the pro-rata expectation derived from the lifetime ex-ante estimate (113,098 tCO₂e over ~6.2 years), indicating a severe over-crediting risk or a fundamentally mis-specified ex-ante baseline.
• ⚠No buffer pool is in place to cover permanence risk from stove failure, replacement, or early retirement, and no reversal events data is available.
• ⚠Additionality test type is contradictory across documents: the PDD (Apr 2023) states a combined test while the monitoring report (Oct 2020) references an investment test; VVB verification of additionality is also inconsistent (false in the Jan 2025 verification report, true in the Feb 2025 validation report).
• ⚠FPIC status is contradictory: the Jan 2024 verification report records it as not conducted, while the Feb 2025 validation report records it as conducted.
• ⚠The fNRB method changed from local field measurement (Dec 2022 verification report) to national default (Aug 2025 verification report), and the fNRB value shifted from 0.82 to 0.88, without clear justification in the extracted record.

Credit Vintages