The Carbon Brief Profile: Democratic Republic of the Congo
As part of a long-running series profiling countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions, Carbon Brief looks at the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which, despite using hardly any fossil fuels, is one of the largest sources of emissions in Africa.
The DRC is home to around 60% of the second-largest rainforest on the planet, as well as much of the world’s largest tropical peatland, the Cuvette Centrale.
While the country’s land and forests are still a carbon sink overall, human-caused land use changes release large volumes of carbon dioxide (CO2) and make the DRC the world’s 12th biggest greenhouse gas emitter, as of 2018.
This means the DRC occupies an unusual position. Despite its high emissions, the country faces widespread poverty and only one-fifth of the population has electricity access.
As a result, when only considering fossil fuels and industry, it has the world’s lowest per-capita carbon footprint.
On the world stage, the government has styled the DRC as a “solution country” for climate change, due to its carbon-dense forests and wealth of minerals required for clean technologies. At the same time, the nation’s leaders are also pushing logging and oil exploration as much-needed sources of investment.
The DRC government has also made it clear that any efforts to preserve the nation’s rainforest and build low-carbon power will be heavily reliant on financial support from wealthier nations.
The DRC is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world when it comes to the impacts of climate change, and its preparedness is hampered by the lack of historical or current weather measurements.
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