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DR Congo rejects US request to

scale back onshore licensing round

DEM. REP. OF CONGO THE Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has
rejected a request from US climate envoy John
Kerry to reduce the number of blocks included
in its current onshore licensing round from 30 to
24, Environment Minister Eve Bazaiba revealed
on October 5.
According to Bazaiba, Kerry made the
request at a meeting with the DRC’s President
Felix Tshisekedi on October 4, arguing that pre-
venting oil and gas exploration at those blocks
was necessary to protect the country’s forests.
Tshisekedi replied by saying that Kinshasa had
the right to develop its own resources and would
take measures to protect the environment, she
told Bloomberg.
The minister went into more detail in a sep-
arate interview with Reuters, saying that the
president had not agreed with the US official’s
contention that the blocks ought to remain Kerry and Tshisekedi met on October 4 (Photo: Twitter/@ClimateEnvoy)
untouched because they encroached upon the
Virunga National Park and peat bogs that act as international standards while protecting the
a carbon dioxide sink. The DRC has come to dif- environment,” she told Bloomberg. “If there are
ferent conclusions after investigating the matter, American companies that want to invest, they
she declared. can invest as long as they take into account envi-
“Those who think the six blocks pose a prob- ronmental laws.”
lem should come and re-assess,” she remarked, Kinshasa will also be on the lookout for envi-
as quoted by Reuters. ronmental hazards and will take the necessary
She further stressed that the DRC had the steps if risks escalate to unacceptably high levels,
sovereign right to make decisions about what she said to Reuters. “If we think it could destroy
happened within its own borders, even as the the environment, we will leave it,” Bazaiba stated.
international community sought to reach a The DRC’s Ministry of Hydrocarbons called
consensus on climate goals. “Nobody can put a tender for all 30 blocks, including 27 poten-
pressure on us ... [No] convention in the world, tially oil-bearing blocks and three potentially
not even the Paris Agreement, forbids a country gas-bearing blocks in Lake Kivu, in late July of
from emitting CO2 for development reasons,” this year.
she told Reuters. The country had originally intended to
Bazaiba did say to Bloomberg that Kinshasa include only 16 blocks but later increased the
was willing to discuss the issue with Washington number, saying that it wanted to optimise the
within the framework of a joint working group use of its natural resources in response to the
that the two sides plan to set up to discuss pro- supply concerns that emerged on world oil
tective measures for the DRC’s forests and peat- and gas markets following Russia’s invasion of
lands. This working group is expected to hold Ukraine in late February. It has also stated that it
its first meeting by the time of the 2022 United sees hydrocarbon development as a path toward
Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), fostering economic growth and eliminating
which will be held on November 6-18 in Sharm energy poverty.
el Sheikh, Egypt, she noted. The auctions have garnered no small amount
However, Bazaiba struck a more determined of criticism from environmental organisations,
note in her interview with Reuters, saying that including Greenpeace. This group has argued
the working group’s conclusions would not that the decision to open the area to hydro-
affect the course of the licensing round. “This is carbon exploration goes against DRC’s agree-
not a working group in which a colonialist con- ment with the Central African Forest Initiative
trols a colony,” she asserted. (CAFI), an international coalition of European,
She also insisted that the DRC intended to Asian and African states that has offered to pro-
incorporate environmental safeguards into any vide $500mn in funding to DRC for deforest-
contracts it signed with the winning bidders. “It’s ation initiatives over a period of five years if it
about investing together, taking into account meets certain conditions. ™

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