Up Energy Improved Cookstoves Programme, Uganda – CPA No 027 supported by Republic of Korea

Audit Analysis

The Up Energy Improved Cookstoves project in Uganda has a solid additionality foundation (combined test confirmed by Carbon Check India) and a quantified 5% leakage deduction, but is undermined by a striking 26-fold gap between the ex-ante lifetime estimate (~113,098 tCO₂e over 5 years) and the single-year verified figure (600,815 tCO₂e), a double-counting corrective action, and the absence of a buffer pool. Several material findings and corrective actions, including a methodology paragraph that could not be located in the cited AMS version, further erode confidence in the project's documentation and calculation chain.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Verified ERR of 600,815 tCO₂e (2022 monitoring) is approximately 26.6× the pro-rata annual ex-ante expectation of ~22,620 tCO₂e (113,098 tCO₂e lifetime ÷ 5-year crediting period), raising serious questions about the ex-ante estimate or the verification calculation
• ⚠Corrective action CAR#2 explicitly requires cross-checking ICS databases to avoid double counting with an existing project, indicating a potential double-claiming risk was identified by the VVB
• ⚠Compliance-level finding CL 01: a methodology paragraph quoted in the PoA-DD was not found in AMS-II.G. v12, suggesting a possible mis-citation of the underlying methodology

Credit Vintages Exhausted