VPA 86 - 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 a quantified 5% leakage deduction, but lacking a buffer pool, a jurisdictional baseline, and free, prior, and informed consent. Multiple administrative contradictions across documents and an extensive list of corrective actions temper confidence in the overall data quality, though the core emission-reduction figures are internally consistent for the monitored period.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠No buffer pool or permanence mechanism is documented for a cookstove project where stove replacement or abandonment is a realistic reversal risk.
• ⚠Free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) was not conducted, per the 2024 verification report, despite the project distributing stoves to household users.
• ⚠The baseline is project-specific rather than jurisdictional, and no baseline reassessment date is recorded in any available document.
• ⚠The project is CCP-eligible, creating a potential dual-channel (CORSIA / voluntary market) crediting pathway that is not explicitly excluded.
• ⚠Ten contradictions were identified across documents, including conflicting FPIC status, leakage deduction values, and crediting-period lengths.

Credit Vintages