Up Energy Improved Cookstoves Programme, Uganda – CPA No 029 supported by Republic of Korea

Audit Analysis

The Up Energy Improved Cookstoves programme in Uganda is a well-structured Gold Standard project with VVB-confirmed additionality, a quantified 5% leakage deduction, and documented safeguards including FPIC and a grievance mechanism. However, a significant discrepancy between the lifetime ex-ante estimate (~113,100 tCO₂e) and the single-year verified figure (600,815 tCO₂e) raises data-reliability questions, and the project-specific baseline is less robust than a jurisdictional alternative. Several material findings and cross-document contradictions temper confidence in the overall data quality.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠The 2022 verification report reports 600,815 tCO₂e for a single monitoring year, while the 2024 appendix lists a lifetime ex-ante estimate of only 113,098 tCO₂e — a 5.3× gap that, on a pro-rata basis (1 yr / 5 yr crediting period), implies the project delivered roughly 26.6× the expected annual allocation, raising questions about either an extremely conservative ex-ante or a data/scope error.
• ⚠A compliance log entry (CL 01) notes that a methodology paragraph quoted in the PoA-DD was not found in AMS-II.G. v12, indicating a documentation accuracy issue in the project design.
• ⚠A corrective action (CAR#2) specifically requests cross-checking ICS databases to avoid double counting with an existing project, signalling a residual double-claiming risk that was not fully resolved at verification.
• ⚠The usage monitoring method is described as an annual survey in the 2022 verification report but as 'assumed' in the 2024 appendix, creating uncertainty about whether usage rates are actually measured or simply carried forward.

Credit Vintages Exhausted