New report from Swedwatch: Poor community engagement and lack of revenues in Zimbabwe carbon projects

A new Swedwatch investigation reveals how C-Quest cookstove projects in Zimbabwe failed to consult communities and share revenues.
-Community members thought the stoves were a donation, not part of business selling credits worth millions of dollars abroad, says Lubna Hawwa, author of the report.

Swedwatch´s findings reveal that, while the company C-Quest from 2022 sold carbon credits sourced from its Zimbabwe cookstove projects to high-emitting corporations, community members and local authorities were unaware of these transactions. Neither were there any efforts made to negotiate a fair and transparent benefit-sharing agreement with the communities.

-The findings raise serious concerns about whether carbon projects can credibly be treated as climate finance when revenues do not reach the communities whose resources and participation enable the projects, says Lubna Hawwa, author of the report and program officer at Swedwatch, an independent research organization based in Sweden.

The report, “Missing benefit-sharing and poor community engagement in carbon projects — a Zimbabwe case study” documents how an estimated 20,000 households in the Chimanimani region during 2022 to 2024 were given improved stoves that claimed to use less firewood and emit less to generate carbon credits for international buyers.

Drawing on first-hand testimony from community members in the Chimanimani district, one of several areas where C-Quest operated, and interviews with national and local authorities, the report uncovers how the company behind the project, C-Quest, headquartered in the US, failed to obtain informed consent, disclose financial information, or negotiate any form of benefit-sharing agreement.

-This case exposes a systemic injustice we often find in carbon markets: the people most affected by climate change are treated as a resource, not as rights-holders, says Lubna Hawwa.

Green Governance Africa (GGA), which conducted field research for the report, warns that the pattern observed in C-Quest projects is far from unique.

- We continue to see carbon projects being implemented in low-income societies as short-term interventions rather than long-term partnerships, says Nyasha Frank Mpahlo, Executive Director at GGA.

-Short-term, extractive carbon projects undermine trust and damage the credibility of climate finance. When developers prioritize quick credit generation over long-term community engagement and benefit-sharing, they leave behind broken infrastructure, unresolved grievances, and communities worse off than before, explains Nyasha Frank Mpahlo.

Fraud, opaque finances, and broken stoves
The report highlights that C-Quest has been at the center of a major fraud investigation involving over-issuance of credits from its cookstoves projects registered under Verra. Following C-Quest’s admission to the fraud scheme worth US$ 250 million in 2024, US authorities have issued a cease and desist order and fined the company, and charged its former senior executives for the alleged manipulation of emissions data and misleading investors.

Court filings allege that the scheme included the sale of more than USD 16 million worth of shares held by the company’s founder, illustrating the scale of financial value that can be extracted by corporate project developers and investors in carbon projects, while the local communities remain unaware and excluded from any meaningful monetary benefits.

Swedwatch estimates that by October 2025 more than 1.4 million carbon credits had been issued across the two projects—credits valued at least between USD 6.5 and 13.7 million on recent markets. Based on 557,253 credits sold and retired, C-Quest likely earned between US$ 2.4 million and US$ 5.3 million. Community testimonies indicate that almost none of this value reached local households, who instead reported broken stoves, lack of follow-up, and no grievance mechanism to raise concerns. While C-Quest stated that revenues were used to subsidise stoves and recover implementation costs, no project-level data on prices, costs, or earnings were disclosed, making it impossible to assess whether revenue use was fair or equitable.

-While the fraud allegations and subsequent legal proceedings were not part of Swedwatch’s investigation and occurred earlier, the report’s findings provide crucial evidence of how such misconduct can occur when communities are not adequately informed and when project finances remain opaque in how they are distributed between stakeholders, says Lubna Hawwa.

A growing global problem
The findings mirror wider concerns across the voluntary carbon market, which continues to expand despite mounting criticism over greenwashing, inflated emissions claims, and lack of community protections. Across the sector, corporate project developers and intermediaries who are mostly based in high-income countries capture the majority of financial value, while communities in low-income countries bear the social and environmental risks and unfulfilled promises.

Previous research from Carbon Market Watch shows that 62 percent of companies involved in voluntary carbon market projects across Africa are headquartered in countries with “very high human development", with limited evidence that revenues flow back to host countries.

-Without mandatory requirements for benefit-sharing, free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), and project-level financial transparency, carbon markets will continue to enable green washing and climate injustice under the guise of climate action and financing, says Lubna Hawwa.

In 2025, the Government of Zimbabwe introduced new carbon market regulations mandating 30 percent share of proceeds from all projects to the government, with part of the revenues allocated to the operation of a national climate fund.

Swedwatch´s recommendations
Swedwatch urges governments and carbon standard-setters to establish regulations to guarantee local communities an equitable share of revenues and recommends corporate project developers to respect meaningful community engagement and establishment of a benefit sharing agreement as key human rights safeguards.

Swedwatch also emphasizes that corporations in high-income countries must always prioritise cutting emissions at source instead of offsetting, and if choosing to buy carbon credits from projects hosted in low- and middle-income countries, they must verify that revenues are shared with local communities as part of the due diligence process.

Furthermore, Swedwatch calls on the governments of high income countries to provide capacity development support to communities affected by carbon projects, and to prioritise increasing grant-based climate finance to climate-vulnerable nations as agreed under the Paris Agreement.

FACT BOX: Methodology
Field research was conducted by Green Governance Africa (GGA), in collaboration with Swedwatch, between October 2024 and March 2025. During the initial fieldwork in December 2024, three focus group discussions (FGDs) were held in Chimanimani with a total of 25 participants – 21 females and four males. In March 2025, a follow-up visit was conducted by Swedwatch. During this visit, two additional focus group discussions were carried out. A total of ten key informant interviews were conducted, covering representatives from local government in Chimanimani, relevant national authorities, the local implementing partner, and trained stove installers.

FACT BOX: About the C-Quest case and the effect on the communities
C-Quest, founded in 2008 in the United States, was one of the largest companies selling cookstove carbon credits from projects in several low-income countries. Prior to facing fraud allegations in 2024 C-Quest had operated 26 projects, including the two in Zimbabwe (registered in 2022 and 2023), under the leading voluntary carbon market crediting program, Verra.

In total, C-Quest aimed to distribute more than 800,000 fuel-efficient improved cookstoves to households relying on open-firewood cooking across Zimbabwe, stating that these stoves would burn wood more efficiently and create fewer emissions, while also improving health and reducing deforestation.

The civil and criminal proceedings in the United States related to C-Quest fraud, together with Verra’s cancellation of 5 million over-issued credits from C-Quest cookstoves projects, represent accountability higher up the value chain, however the report finds that no redress reached the Zimbabwean communities.

In Chimanimani, more than 1,000 households were left with half-built stoves and missing parts after C-Quest operations were abruptly halted amidst the fraud investigations and the agreement with the local implementation partner were terminated, leaving communities without any avenue to raise grievances about broken stoves, delayed installations, and lack of revenue-sharing. Families who received the stoves reported some benefits, such as time saved and reduced smoke levels, but they said the company should be more transparent and use a portion of revenues to repair stoves for sustainable use and support local development and climate resilience.

At the time of publication, C-Quest had filed for bankruptcy and ownership of the Zimbabwe projects was transferred to Bridge Carbon LLC in the United Kingdom. Bridge Carbon stated that it is not formally or legally linked to C-Quest and that it did not derive financial benefits from these projects.The company stated that it had requested Verra to withdraw the projects in July 2025 and had closed the operations, citing market conditions and new government regulations in Zimbabwe. Bridge Carbon further stated that it does not have the financial resources to undo the fraud and restore projects from its predecessor company.