This article is the readable companion to SaniTap’s Technical Summary for Third-Party Assessors, the one-page reference sheet that sets out the verified parameters for the Improved Cooking Madagascar project. It is written for ratings agencies, validation and verification bodies, and prospective buyers running due diligence.
One request before an assessment begins. Please reference the summary and contact SaniTap for direct access to the underlying project files. Several of the errors we see in third-party assessments come from working off the wrong methodology or without sight of the documentation, and both are avoidable.
The project distributes high-efficiency improved cookstoves in Toliary Province, Madagascar, generating verified emission reductions through reduced firewood and charcoal use. It is registered on the Gold Standard Registry as PoA GS12600, with VPAs GS12851, GS23369, GS23370 and GS23409. Five technical areas matter most to an accurate assessment.
1. Carbon methodology: GS TPDDTEC v4.0
The project applies the Gold Standard methodology Technologies and Practices to Displace Decentralised Thermal Energy Consumption (TPDDTEC) Version 4.0. The ICVCM has confirmed TPDDTEC v4.0 as a Core Carbon Principles-eligible category when its conditions are met.
One point saves time on both sides. This project does not use the Gold Standard Methodology for Metered & Measured Energy Cooking Devices (MMECD) in any version. MMECD is a distinct methodology. An assessment that references MMECD v1.0 or v1.2 in relation to this project is working from the wrong document, and its findings do not apply.
2. Carbon accounting: fraction of non-renewable biomass at 54%
The project applies a subnational fraction of non-renewable biomass (fNRB) of 54% for Toliary Province, set out in A6.4-MEP012-A04, Fraction of Non-Renewable Biomass V2 and derived from the MoFuSS model (Modelling Fuelwood Saving Scenarios). For fuels produced and consumed in a defined subnational area, the tool states that a subnational value is the appropriate one. Only the non-renewable share of the avoided biomass earns a credit; the rest is treated as if it would have regrown.
3. Monitoring: continuous digital stove monitoring, third-party operated
A third-party contractor runs continuous digital monitoring of stove usage with dedicated stove monitors. This is operational, not a planned measure. Data sensors sit first in the Order of Preference in the CDM Sampling and Survey Guidelines V4, and the approach meets the best-practice tier of the Gold Standard usage-rate monitoring requirements. An assessment that characterises the project as relying solely on sales records, or as lacking active monitoring, is factually incorrect.
4. Safeguarding and community engagement: full FPIC, gender-responsive
The project holds comprehensive safeguarding and Free, Prior and Informed Consent documentation. No safeguarding assessment should be completed without direct access to it. That documentation includes per-household FPIC and consent records with participation rates, mechanisms for ongoing consent as the project scales, a contracted gender expert running gender-responsive workshops and monitoring, multiple engagement channels including a confidential email channel and the Gold Standard grievance mechanism, and carbon-rights transfer documentation provided in French and Malagasy at the point of stove distribution. Assessors who have not had access to this material should not assign a safeguarding risk rating on that basis. See the FPIC explainer for how SaniTap runs consent in practice.
5. Government authorisation and CORSIA
Madagascar’s Article 6 framework is a two-step process: a Letter of Authorisation cannot be issued until verification is complete. The Government of Madagascar has issued the project a Letter of Approbation, the formal first step, and third-party verification is underway. Madagascar has already issued 23 Letters of Authorisation to other activities, listed on the UNFCCC Article 6 authorisations register, which shows the system is functional. The project meets ICAO’s CORSIA eligibility criteria; the Letter of Authorisation is the remaining step required to trade under CORSIA, and the CCP label application follows registration and verification.
What SaniTap will provide
SaniTap gives full access to the project files, the PDD, ICS calculations, FPIC records, monitoring data and the Letter of Approbation, to any legitimate assessor or prospective buyer before a review begins. The fastest, most accurate route is to work from the reference summary and ask us for the documents you need.
Open the technical summary reference Request project documentation
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