Carbon registry Verra halts 27 CQC cookstove projects

The world's largest carbon crediting registry Verra has suspended 27 projects run by project developer C-Quest Capital (CQC) after "allegations" of over-issuance of millions of credits.

Washington-based CQC has voluntarily reported to the US authorities and Verra wrongdoing by its former chief executive officer, Kenneth Newcombe, which have resulted in the over-issuance of millions of carbon credits from clean cookstove carbon projects hosted by the registry.

Following CQC's announcement, Verra has started the suspension process for 27 implicated projects pending outcome of internal review. "Given C-Quest's voluntary submission of the findings [...] we hope to finalise this review as quickly as possible," said a Verra spokeswoman.

It is still not clear which projects have been suspended among the 34 CQC-run projects currently registered under Verra's VMR0006 methodology — energy efficiency and fuel switch measures in thermal applications. Of these, 22 are located in Africa and the rest in Asia.

The wrongdoing were uncovered by a review conducted by a "global law firm" and commissioned in early 2024 by a "special committee of non-executive directors of CQC's Board of Directors", according to the statement from the project developer. Newcombe, who is also a former Verra board member, was replaced in February by CQC's current chief executive office Jules Kortenhorst.

As part of its remedial measures, CQC has adopted an improved Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) process, reduced the number of deployed cookstoves in its fleet by 175,000 — reflecting the number of cookstoves it believes are no longer in use — and plans to adopt a "more robust carbon crediting methodology and work with registries and the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) to secure a Core Carbon Principles (CCP) label".

The ICVCM, a multi-stakeholder initiative within the voluntary carbon market, has approved the first carbon credit methodologies for its integrity CCP label at the start of the month.
The initiative has issued a statement in response to CQC's announcement where it expresses its disappointment but also recognises the efforts of the project developer's new leadership. The ICVCM is currently assessing the VMR0006 methodology used by C-Quest Capital.

By Nicola De Sanctis