Up Energy Improved Cookstoves Programme, Uganda – CPA No 041 supported by Republic of Korea

Audit Analysis

The Up Energy Improved Cookstoves project in Uganda has a VVB-verified additionality assessment and a quantified 5% leakage deduction, but is undermined by seven material findings related to data inconsistencies in the monitoring report, a project-specific baseline, and no stated buffer pool. The most serious concern is that the verified ERR for a single monitoring year (600,815 tCO₂e) exceeds the entire lifetime ex-ante estimate (113,098 tCO₂e) by a factor of five, raising substantial over-crediting risk. Multiple contradictions across documents on FNRB method, usage monitoring approach, and crediting period further erode confidence in the data chain.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Verified ERR of 600,815 tCO₂e for the 2021 monitoring year is 26.6× the pro-rata annual expectation derived from the 113,098 tCO₂e lifetime ex-ante estimate, indicating a severe over-delivery or baseline/ex-ante estimation error
• ⚠Seven material findings (CL 01–CL 07) in the verification report flag inconsistencies in thermal efficiency values, data parameters versus VPA-DDs, and ER spreadsheet versus WBT reports, indicating weak MRV data quality
• ⚠FNRB method is contradicted between documents: the 2022 verification report cites a national default while the 2025 validation report cites local field data, creating uncertainty about the 0.82 FNRB value
• ⚠Usage monitoring method is contradicted: the 2022 verification report describes an annual survey while the 2024 appendix describes the rate as assumed, undermining confidence in the 90.92% verified usage figure

Credit Vintages Exhausted