Democratic Republic of Congo: Greenhouse gas emissions baseline projection

The report establishes a reference case for greenhouse gas emissions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from 1990 to 2030. It identifies agriculture as the largest non-LULUCF emitting sector and notes a significant historical shift where the DRC moved from being a large net carbon sink in 2000 to a small net emitter by 2010. The projections are based on GDP and population growth forecasts, though the report highlights substantial data gaps and uncertainties, particularly in the LULUCF and agriculture sectors.

• The Democratic Republic of Congo transitioned from being a significant net carbon sink in 2000 to a small contributor to global emissions by 2010, with net emissions rising from -96.5 MTCO2e in 2000 to 17.1 MTCO2e in 2010.
• Agriculture is the primary source of non-LULUCF emissions, representing approximately 56% of such emissions in 2010, largely driven by livestock.
• Energy demand is the second largest non-LULUCF emitting sector, accounting for 25.9% of emissions in 2010, with a dominance of methane and nitrous oxide from biomass combustion.
• The Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector experienced a sharp decline in net removals between 2000 and 2010, moving from -119,926 KTCO2e/yr to -11,450 KTCO2e/yr.
• Baseline projections for the electricity sector assume that diesel fuel demand for generation will grow at a rate of 7.1% per year between 2010 and 2015, aligned with forecasted GDP growth.
• There is high uncertainty in agricultural emissions, particularly regarding savannah-burning, which accounts for about 34% of total non-LULUCF emissions in 2010 but relies on non-country-specific default emission factors.

APA

Stiebert, S. (2013). Democratic Republic of Congo: Greenhouse gas emissions baseline projection. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/rep_of_congo_greenhouse_gas.pdf

Chicago

Stiebert, Seton. Democratic Republic of Congo: Greenhouse gas emissions baseline projection. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2013. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/rep_of_congo_greenhouse_gas.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Stiebert |first1=Seton |title=Democratic Republic of Congo: Greenhouse gas emissions baseline projection |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=March 2013 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/rep_of_congo_greenhouse_gas.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stiebert2013democratic, author = {Stiebert, Seton}, title = {{Democratic Republic of Congo: Greenhouse gas emissions baseline projection}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2013}, month = mar, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/rep_of_congo_greenhouse_gas.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }