How DRC's oil push could affect climate change

LAGOS - Home to the world's No. 2 tropical rainforest, Democratic Republic of Congo plans to expose half its land to oil and gas drilling in what conservationists call a major threat to endangered apes, local jobs and global climate goals.

Using geospatial mapping and analysis, U.S.-based NGO Earth Insight calculated that 52 oil and gas blocks put up for auction in May - on top of three previously awarded - cover about 124 million hectares of DRC's forest, peatland and inland waters.

That is roughly half the entire landmass of DRC, Africa's second biggest country, and threatens endangered wildlife, scarce jobs and uphill efforts to slow climate change.

Here is what you need to know about the concessions and what drilling could mean for climate change and DRC's people.

What is at risk?

The exploration blocks extend into protected land, community forests and critical habitats for endangered species, according to the report, co-produced with environmental groups Notre Terre Sans Pétrole (Our Land without Oil), CORAP and Rainforest UK. 

The groups want the government to can the entire 2025 round.

"Fossil fuel expansion in the DRC is accelerating. Yet the message from scientists, local communities, and civil society is clear: oil development in the Congo Basin is incompatible with a livable future," said Tuesday's report.

What's at stake in Congo's latest oil push?

In May, Congo's government offered 52 new exploration blocks along with three from a previous auction, said the report.

Researchers said 66 million hectares of rainforest and 8.6 million hectares of biodiversity hotspots, home to forest elephants and great apes, fall within the proposed concessions.

The blocks put up for auction also overlap nearly all of the Cuvette Centrale, the world's largest tropical peatland complex, which stores around 30 gigatons of carbon.

Researchers said 28 of the proposed concessions also overlap with 72% of the Kivu-Kinshasa Green Corridor, launched in January to conserve more than 100,000 square km of primary forests and 60,000 square km of peatlands.

How might any new drilling affect climate change?

Protecting DRC's forests is not just crucial for the country's ecosystems, but also for the global fight against climate change and vanishing biodiversity.

About 60% of the Congo Basin, the world's largest carbon sink, is located in the DRC, and scientists say it absorbs more carbon than the Amazon.

Congo's peatlands and forests store approximately 85 billion tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to three years of global CO2 emissions. 

Conservationists say the infrastructure and exploration activity pre-drill alone could push Congo's forests to release carbon - instead of absorbing it as they do now — undermining the world's pledge to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

"What happens next in the Congo Basin will have consequences far beyond its borders," the report said.

However, the DRC is one of the poorest countries in the world, and its government has often said it needs to tap its natural resources to transform its economy.
    

How might drilling affect local people?

After Congo put 30 oil blocks on the market in 2022, sparking condemnation by environmental groups, President Felix Tshisekedi said Congo would abide by its promise to protect the forests, adding that modern drilling methods and tight regulation would minimise the ecological impact.

But the Earth Insight report said decades of oil extraction in Muanda, a coastal town in western DRC, have not helped local communities and have left a toxic trail of pollution.

Researchers said nearly 39 million people who live in the boundaries of the proposed new blocks could face a similar fate.

Already, the proposed concessions encroach on 63% of community forests, rivers, and lands that Indigenous people rely on for food, water, livelihoods and cultural activity.   

Can Congo balance development with climate goals?   

Last year, Congo's Ministry of Hydrocarbons said it had cancelled an auction for 27 oil blocks due to a host of reasons, be it thin competition or late submission of documents.

Green groups blamed the volte-face on widespread opposition.

Environmental campaigners say DRC can harness its mineral wealth - estimated at $25 trillion - while also maintaining its rich ecosystems. They say it should focus on minerals necessary for the clean energy transition and mine them sustainably.

"We have a choice: continue digging our grave with oil, or build a livable, dignified, and sovereign future," said Pascal Mirindi, campaign coordinator at Our Land Without Oil.

(Reporting by Bukola Adebayo; Editing by Lyndsay Griffiths)