VPA 36 - GHG Emission Reduction through use of Bondhu Chula (Improved Cook Stoves) in Bangladesh

Audit Analysis

The Bondhu Chula cookstove project in Bangladesh has verified additionality and a quantified 5% leakage deduction, but suffers from a significant usage-rate over-estimation (99% assumed vs 85.8% verified), unaddressed reversal risk with no buffer pool, and multiple data-quality corrective actions. The absence of a verified ERR figure and a project-specific baseline limit confidence in the claimed reductions.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Usage rate assumed at 99% but verified at only 85.8% — a 13.4% over-estimation that inflates claimed reductions
• ⚠Reversal risk (stove replacement or disuse) is explicitly not addressed and no buffer pool is in place, despite a 7-year stove lifetime and the project being in its 6th monitoring period
• ⚠Five corrective action requests and three clarification requests in the verification report indicate recurring data-quality issues (name mismatches, missing mobile numbers, inconsistent survey data)
• ⚠No verified ERR figure is available in the extracted record, preventing independent confirmation of actual delivery

Credit Vintages