Improved cook stoves in pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in Southern Ethiopia (GS 3422)

Improved cook stoves in pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in Southern Ethiopia (GS 3422) Internal Verification Form: GS Micro Scale Project Information on the request Requested by: Cooperazione Internazionale Fondazione (COOPI) Contact: Mr. Claudio Ceravolo Contact email: coopi@coopi.org Submission History Date of submission: 05/07/2016 Date of GS feedback - I round: 16/08/2016 Date of PP s response - I round: 20/12/2016 Date of GS feedback - II round: 20/01/2017 Date of PP s response - I round: 27/01/2017 Date of GS feedback - II round: 07/02/2017 Project summary Project Type: Energy Efficiency-Domestic Cookstove Project Size: Micro Project Location: Ethiopia Methodology Applied: The Gold Standard Simplified Methodology for Efficient Cookstoves (February 2013) Project Start Date: 11/10/2014 GS Registration Date: 05/12/2015 GS Crediting Period Start Date: 12/10/2014 PoA Title and GS ID (for Micro VPA): NA Page 1

Project details: The Project Activity has involved the distribution of 5,672 fuel efficient cook stoves to families within Liben, Gorodola and Arero Woredas of Oromia Regional State and Filtu and Hudet Woredas of Somali Regional State in Southern Ethiopia. The goal of the project is to improve energy efficiency as well as the conditions of the local population. At the same, the project will reduce CO2 emission by the reduced fuel use for cooking activities. The cookstove model distributed in the project is Tikikil Rocket Stove. This stove model is tailored and optimized for local cooking requirements and it can accommodate the Ethiopia s most commonly used pot types. The fuel used by the stove is firewood. The stove distribution started on 11 th of October 2014 and was completed within one year (by 10 th of October 2015). All together 5,672 stoves were distributed to the local families. Monitoring Period Information 1 st GS Monitoring Period: 12/10/2014 to 31/03/2016 Amount of GS credits under review: 9,067 tco2 Vintage Break 12/10/2014 to 31/10/2014 795 tco2 01/01/2015 to 31/12/2015 4,954 tco2 01/01/2016 to 31/03/2016 3,318 tco2 Documents Provided and Reviewed (Round I): Monitoring Report (GS3422_Monitoring_Report_ver01.pdf) GS Appraisal Report Verification Stage (GS3422_SD_Verification_Report_ver01.pdf) ER Calculation Sheet (GS3422_Ex_post_Calculations_ver01.xls) Supporting documents (GS3422_Stove_Selling_Database.xls) Supporting documents (GS3422_Project_Monitoring_Plan.pdf) Supporting documents (GS3422_Filtu_FSS_Safety_equipment_monitoring.pdf) Supporting documents (GS3422_Examples_of_Filled_Monitoring_Forms.pdf) Supporting documents (GS3422_Monitoring_Questionnaire_Raw_Data.xls) Supporting documents (GS3422_Negele_FSS_Safety_equipment_handover_2015.jpg) Supporting documents (GS3422_Example_of_Carbon_Transfer_Contract_11-10-2014.pdf Page 2

Documents Provided and Reviewed (Round I): Monitoring Report (GS3422_Monitoring_Report_ver02.pdf, 28/11/2016) GS Appraisal Report Verification Stage (SD_Verification_Report_ver02_TRACKED.docx) ER Calculation Sheet (GS3422_Ex_post_Calculations_ver02..xls) Supporting documents (GS3422_Stove_Selling_Database_ver02.xls) Supporting documents (GS3422_Monitoring_Questionnaire_Raw_Data_ver02.xls) Supporting documents (GS3422_Filtu_FSS_Safety_equipment_monitoring.pdf) Supporting documents (Start_up_kits_for_Negelle_-_Filtu_FSS_cooperatives.pdf) General comments: The Gold Standard has identified clarification and requests as outlined in the table below. These issues must be resolved before the project may be submitted for GS VER issuance. Please provide your responses in the table below along with the revised project documentation and any other supporting documents that may be required to resolve the issues. Decision: Rejected [ ] Request for clarifications and /or [ ] To be submitted for external verification [ ] Verified Requests for clarifications and/or s: The GS has reviewed the submitted project and identified a number of areas where additional information is necessary for the project to be in line with the Gold Standard requirements. Sections VPA Design Document Section B.2 and Sales database The PP shall provide more details of how the unique identification number is provided as [X] The significant number of duplicates in sales database creates several doubts over the The PP has uploaded into the Markit registry the new corrected version of Page 3

the sales data has 148 duplicates of unique unique id system and sales data recording the stove selling database Stove ids and also provide details of how the user system so there is a need for revisiting the Selling Database ver02. information is recorded and if there is an procedures to ensure transparency and audited financial transaction to back the data verifiable emission reduction. Duplicate ID number: The manual as 714 duplicate names exist in the database filling of the stove selling contracts as with several duplicate mobile numbers and well entering of the data into the addresses. The PP needs to explain how likely electronic database might have it is that the seller can report a false sales and caused some errors to the stove ID what is the procedure in place to prevent it. numbers. To be conservative all the stoves identified with the duplicate ID numbers have been deleted from the database. Duplicate phone numbers or no phone number: Many people in the project area don t have their own telephone. In the selling contracts part of the persons without their own phone indicated the telephone number of the reseller or their parent as the best way of contacting them via phone and for this reason there are several duplicate phone numbers in the database. Page 4

Duplicate names and addresses: For traditional reasons there are lots of people with similar or exactly same name and for this reason it s logical to have same names (with different addresses) within the selling database. The rest of the duplicate names in the database are instead caused because part of the families bought actually more than one stove. These persons kept anyhow only one stove to themselves and handed over the other stove/stoves to their relatives like to the second wives or children. All the persons who bought more than one stove are now indentified in the database with the new column "Total number of bought stoves" and for conservative reasons only one stove per person has been considered eligible and included in the Emission Reduction calculations. Page 5

Moreover, to be conservative and to avoid any doubts on the quality of the database, PP has chosen to exclude from the database and consequently from the credit calculations also all the rows with the duplicate owner names. Details on the recording of the user information 1) The local resellers registered the people who wanted to buy the project stoves. The reseller where either local authorities (Kebele Managers), IGA owners (Income Generating Activity IGA like a shop, restaurant or dairy small scale factory owners) or Government Development Agents. 2) The FSS Cooperatives delivered the agreed number of the stoves to each of the local resellers. 3) The resellers collected the money from the registered Page 6

people and at the same the selling contracts were signed and the stoves handed over. 4) The Project Developer (COOPI) collected the original selling contracts from the local resellers and entered the data into the electronic database. The original hard copies of the selling contracts are stored in COOPI s office in Negele Borena, Ethiopia. Probability of false sales: The PP confirms that the probability of the recording of the false sales is marginal. Moreover, during the awareness campaigns as well as the during the local consultation meetings local people were advised to report the kebelle managers or directly to COOPI in case if they did not receive the stoves or in case they have any other complains. No complains where anyhow received. Page 7

Monitoring Report Section : Cover Page The PP shall mention vintage wise emission Vintage wise emission reductions need to be Cover page of the MR has been reductions in the Monitoring Report cover mentioned as per the guidelines. updated with the vintage wise page form. emission reductions. Section D and The PP shall reduce the usage rate from 100 Despite claims of system of unique ID numbers To be conservative the usage rate GS3422_Monitoring_ to 96% as stoves ID Number EU2651 and PP has either surveyed the same cookstove has been reduced from 100 to 96%. Questionnaire_Raw_Data.xls EU4542 have been surveyed twice with twice or same number has been assigned to Moreover, the monitoring database different user names in 2 cases and one two users both ways there is a need to deduct has been updated deleting from the username in other 2 cases, error is creating usage rate from 100% to 96% considering analysis all the four families with the doubts over the quality of survey and sales lack of reliability in the survey data. unclear ID numbers. Final analyzed database. sample being thus 101 families instead of 105 families. All the project documents have been updated accordingly (Please refer the Monitoring Report ver02, SD Verification Report ver02 and ex post calculations ver02 uploaded in the Markit registry). Page 8

D.2. The PP shall revise the value of number of The sales database has numerous duplicates The total number of credited cookstoves credited as per the comment in Unique ID, name of user, phone numbers cookstoves is 4,955 as indicated in regarding sales database. and seems to be fudged, the PP need to check the updated selling database actual sales and share the correct data. ( Stove Selling Database ver02 ). All the project documents have been updated accordingly (Please refer the Monitoring Report ver02, SD Verification Report ver02 and ex post calculations ver02 uploaded in the Markit registry). D.2. The PP shall explain how DFP,stove,y has been It is not clear how the DFP,stove,y has been Based on the monitoring survey calculated and not just mention the guidance calculated. question III iii ( How many meals do provided in the methodology. you cook weekly ) averagely 3.1 meals/day/family are cooked. For additional confirmation, the same level of daily meals (3.0 + 0.1 = 3.1 meals/day) can be estimated also based on the questions III vi If yes, how many meals did you prepare using project cookstove last week? (averagely 3.0 meals/day) and Page 9

question III ix If yes, how many meals did you prepare using the baseline cookstove last week? (averagely 0.1 meals/day). DFP,stove,y has been calculated thereafter as 0.1 / 3.1 x 100 = 3 %. D.3 The PP shall explain how random samples were selected for the monitoring survey. The request/comment is open. The PP shall provide snapshot of the random numbers It is not clear if the samples visited were selected randomly and how random sampling was done considering 4 duplicates were found in survey data. Random samples were selected through statistical function Random of Microsoft Excel, extracting Stove ID s from Selling Database. During survey reporting a transcription error was undertaken, creating 4 duplicates; following a conservative approach these duplicates has been excluded from the sample analysis, reducing the sample to 101 stoves, which is still statistically consistent with the requirements of the methodology. The sample was determined from the Stove Selling Database using the function Random() of Microsoft Page 10

generated using excel function to determine Excel. With this fuction a random the samples. number was generated for for each The comment/request is closed. of the row (i.e. each stove) of the selling database. These random numbers where then orginised from the smallest number to the biggest afterwhich the first 105 stoves were chosen for the sample. The snapshot showing an example of the random numbers generated and used for the sample selection is uploaded into the Markit registry as requested (See file called "Snapshot on Sample Selection"). GS Appraisal Report Verification Stage Section E. The PP shall inform how many workers are employed in stove manufacturing, how many protective equipment have been purchased and provide pictures of usage of protective equipment. The PP shall change spelling of first aid kit from Kid written presently. Only signed assertion document is not sufficient to check if protective equipment are being used. Spelling error exists. The Filtu and Negele cooperatives are both composed of 15 workers (totally 30 workers) who are working four days per week in two separate shifts. In addition to the production of the stoves, the working tasks are also including the stove selling and promotion activities outside the manufacturing area. The Page 11

cooperatives produced the stoves for this project during August 2014 and September 2015 after which they have continued the stove production for other purposes. The document showing number of equipments given for the cooperatives in the beginning of the stove production, including also the initial protective equipments, has been uploaded into the Markit registry Start up kits for Neghelle & Filtu FSS cooperatives. In line with the SD Monitoring Plan prepared by the Objective Observer and accepted by GS on 2 nd of October 2015, PP has monitored the safety equipment usage by the monitoring visits made to the FSS cooperatives. Totally 3 visits within each cooperatives has been made. Page 12

Each monitoring visits, including the written minutes and photos, are described in the separate documents Filtu FSS Safety equipment monitoring and Negele FSS Safety equipment monitoring uploaded in the Markit registry. The spelling errors present in the SD Verification Report have been corrected. Updated version of the report is uploaded into the Markit Registry. Section E. The PP shall change the data for Access to Affordable and clean energy services and livelihood of poor considering the revisions in sales database and survey. 1. The Monitoring report has been revised. The errors in sales database and survey have implications for SD monitoring. Section.E The percentage usage of protective equipment has been dropped among the As the monitoring shows, most of the workers are still using the provided Page 13

workers by time. Please clarify the reason safety equipments even though the and discuss if more frequent visits are usage rate has, in case of some required to ensure the usage of the equipments, decreased from the equipment. original 100% usage rate. In Filtu cooperative the decrease has been seen in the hand glove usage (during the last monitoring visit 50%, i.e. 3 out of 6 persons we using them) and in the ear cover usage (67%, i.e. 4 out of 6 persons were using them). In the Negelle cooperative, the decrease was seen in the ear cover usage (during the last visit 67%, i.e. 4 out of 6 persons were using) and in the welding mask usage (neither of the 2 persons currently making welding was using the mask even though available). As the usage of the protective equipments is not a common practice in Ethiopia PP considers the above monitoring results are good and are showing that the attitudes and habits Page 14

of the workers are slowly changing permanently more positive towards using of the protective equipments. During the upcoming monitoring visits additional attention will be paid to address the importance of the safety equipments, especially regarding the of the welding masks, ear covers and gloves, so that the usage rates would raise again to the initial 100% level. PP considers justifiable and functional to continue to make the monitoring visits twice per year in line with the SD Monitoring Plan. Emission Reduction Calculation Sheet Calculations The PP shall revise the emission reduction calculation considering the duplicates in sales database and monitoring survey. The sales data and usage survey data needs to undergo changes considering the errors with implications for emission reduction calculation. The new version of the ex post calculations has been uploaded into the Markit registry ( Ex post Calculations ver02 ). Page 15

Other Sections GS-3422-stove- In the sales database 148 supposedly unique Severe errors in terms of duplicates in unique The PP has made comprehensive selling-database Stove IDs are duplicates, 714 names are id, name of users and phone numbers exist in check of the selling database and duplicates with same or no phone number sales database creating severe doubt over totally 717 stoves has been removed provided in several cases and the same seller, reliability of the database. from the database to be for example X has sold stove to4 people conservative. Moreover, the persons named Y with two having same phone who bought more than one stoves numbers and address or no phone numbers are now identified with the new have been provided. The PP shall explain column Total number of bought how data is checked and actual sales is stoves. The new version of the audited as the data duplicates indicate database is uploaded in the Markit towards risk of fake sales reporting and registry ( Stove Selling Database fudging of data. ver02 ). An independent audit of all sales is required or PP shall at least remove 714 stoves from the sales database. GS3422_Monitoring_ Questionnaire_Raw_Data.xls The PP shall provide English translation of all the database and provide explanation of the data analysis. Please provide a summary tab in English for the analysis of data in the user survey data. The PP has not provided database in english. The Excel spreadsheet including the raw data and analysis of the monitoring questionnaire has been simplified and clarified. Moreover, all graphics are now linked clearly to the raw data. The Page 16

written description of the data analysis is made in the Monitoring Report under the section C Ongoing monitoring studies. Please refer the Monitoring Questionnaire Raw data ver02 uploaded into the Markit Registry. --- Conclusion - The GS is of the opinion that 9,067 VERs (Monitoring Period 12/10/2014 to 31/03/2016) for GS3422 are verified after the above clarifications and/or s have been taken care of in a satisfactory way. Page 17