VPA 59 - GHG Emission Reduction through use of Bondhu Chula (Improved Cook Stoves) in Bangladesh

Audit Analysis

A Gold Standard cookstove VPA in Bangladesh with VVB-confirmed additionality and a quantified 5% leakage deduction, but undermined by the absence of a buffer pool, a project-specific baseline with no recorded reassessment, non-conducted FPIC, and a long list of corrective actions spanning formatting, stakeholder consultation, and design-change documentation. The verified usage rate (98.3%) comfortably exceeds the conservative 90% assumption, supporting claim credibility, yet the lifetime ex-ante ERR estimate is missing from the record, preventing a full pro-rata delivery check.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠No buffer pool or permanence mechanism is documented for a 15-year crediting period, leaving reversal risk (stove breakdown, replacement with traditional stoves) unmitigated.
• ⚠FPIC is recorded as not conducted in the 2024 verification report, contradicting the 2023 validation report which stated it was conducted; the more recent and authoritative verification report is privileged.
• ⚠Eighteen or more corrective actions and 'likely CARs' remain open, covering PoA duration compliance, missing major-changes list, stakeholder-consultation gaps, and VVB verification of stove serial-number tracking to prevent double counting.
• ⚠The lifetime ex-ante ERR estimate is absent from all extracted documents, so the 523,571 tCO₂e verified figure (one-year monitoring period) cannot be benchmarked against a pro-rata expectation over the 15-year crediting period.

Credit Vintages