VPA 21 - GHG Emission Reduction through use of Bondhu Chula (Improved Cook Stoves) in Bangladesh

Audit Analysis

A Gold Standard improved cookstove project in Bangladesh with VVB-confirmed additionality and conservative verified usage rates, but undermined by a project-specific baseline, an extremely low 0.95% leakage deduction, and a large volume of data inconsistencies and corrective actions flagged by the verifier. Multiple contradictions between the monitoring report and verification report on ERR figures, leakage treatment, and the crediting period reduce confidence in the reported emission reductions.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠The monitoring report (2023-10-18) contains two different claimed ERR values (262,185 and 157,839) within the same document, an internal inconsistency that undermines data reliability.
• ⚠An earlier verification report (2023-06-15) verified 350,831 tCO₂e while the later one (2023-10-31) verified 262,185 tCO₂e for what appears to be the same monitoring period — a 34% discrepancy that is unexplained.
• ⚠Leakage deduction of only 0.95% is extremely low for a cookstove project where displaced firewood could be used elsewhere; the monitoring report (undated) states leakage was 'not addressed' while the verification report (2023) calls it 'quantified'.
• ⚠Approximately 30 material findings and 30 corrective actions were raised by TÜV NORD CERT, including missing sample calculations, unit inconsistencies, and data transfer errors between survey forms and the ER spreadsheet.
• ⚠The crediting period is stated as 2014–2024 in the verification report but 2021–2026 in the validation report (2022), a fundamental discrepancy about the project's temporal scope.

Credit Vintages