VPA - Spouts-5 by Believe Green LLC

Audit Analysis

A Gold Standard energy-efficiency stove project in Uganda with VVB-confirmed additionality and conservative credit delivery (73% of pro-rata expectation), but undermined by nine material findings including GWP calculation errors, usage-rate inconsistencies, and a contradiction in the additionality test type within the PDD itself. The absence of a buffer pool, a project-specific baseline with no stated reassessment date, and unresolved contradictions in fNRB methodology and usage-monitoring approach limit confidence in the credit's robustness.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Additionality test type is contradictory within the same PDD (2017-07): described as both 'common practice' and 'barrier', creating ambiguity about which test was actually applied
• ⚠Nine material findings in the verification report include incorrect GWP application (AR4 vs AR5), inconsistent usage-rate values across the MR and ERs, and missing details on annual survey requirements and leakage assessment
• ⚠No buffer pool percentage or permanence claim is stated in any available document, leaving reversal risk unaddressed
• ⚠fNRB methodology is contradictory: the verification report (2021) cites a local field measurement while the monitoring report (2020) references a national default, and the usage-monitoring method is described as an annual survey in the verification report but self-reporting in the PDD

Credit Vintages