The transport sector is the third biggest energy consumer in the DRC, with around 4% share of total final energy consumption in 2019.⁸ Transport is entirely powered by imported petroleum fuels, the sector accounting for 99% of final total oil products consumption. Diesel (54%) and motor gasoline (45%) are the most-consumed fuels. The sector was responsible for about 2 MtCO₂e in 2019, with road transport being the largest source of emissions within the sector.

While the country expects a strong growth in transport emissions under a business-as-usual scenario by 2030, the government has estimated the sector’s emissions reduction potential at 27–37 MtCO₂e and articulated some mitigation measures in the NDC. For example, the government plans to develop urban and interurban mass transport such as trams, buses and trains, and promote multimodal transport for passengers and goods.¹ The country’s Third National Communication on Climate Change also included measures such as drafting a national transport policy and renewing the cities’ car fleet with cars less than 10 years old.²⁶ However, the DRC government does not provide an estimate on the emissions reduction potential of these measures.

According to the 1.5°C compatible pathways analysed here, the sector could be decarbonised through a rapid electrification, with the share of electricity growing from 0% in 2019 to 6–26% in 2030, and 39–49% by 2050. Biofuels could also play a role in the decarbonisation of the sector.

¹ Democratic Republic of the Congo. Contribution Déterminée à l’échelle Nationale révisée. (2021).

² African Development Bank. National Climate Change Profile: Democratic Republic of the Congo. (2018).

³ Ministère de l’Environnement et Développement Durable. Troisième Communication Nationale de la République Démocratique du Congo à la Convention Cadre sur le Changement Climatique. (2015).

⁴ African Energy Commission (AFREC). AFREC Africa Energy Balances 2019. (2019).

⁵ African Energy Commission (AFREC). Africa Energy Efficiency for the Residential Sector 2019. (2019).

⁶ United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Atlas of Africa Energy Resource. (2017).

⁷ Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC). Democratic Republic of the Congo (2019).

⁸ International Energy Agency (IEA). Data and statistics: Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2018. (2022).

⁹ Radio France Internationale. RDC: l’immense enjeu et problème de l’accès à l’électricité. (2019).

¹⁰ World Bank. State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2019. State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2019 (2019). doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-1435-8.

¹¹ Democratic Republic of Congo. Contribution Prévue Déterminée au niveau National (CPDN). (2017).

¹² Democratic Republic of the Congo. Contribution déterminée au niveau national de la République Démocratique du Congo. (2017).

¹³ IEA. Africa Energy Outlook 2019. Preprint at (2019).

¹⁴ African Energy Commission (AFREC). AFREC Africa Energy Database. (2019).

¹⁵ Democratic Republic of Congo. Plan National Stratégique de Développement 2019-2023. (2019).

¹⁶ The World Bank. World Development Indicators database.(2019).

¹⁷ Ministère du Plan. Fiche technique sur l’énergie. (2021).

¹⁸ Kusakana, K. A Review of Energy in the Democratic Republic of Congo. in International Conference on Desalination and Renewable Energy (ICDRE) (2016).

¹⁹ Democratic Republic of Congo. Politique Nationale de l’Energie de la République Démocratique du Congo. (2022).

²⁰ International Energy Agency (IEA). Data and statistics: Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2019. (2022).

²¹ CAFI. Sustainable Consumption and Partial Substitution of Wood Energy – DRCongo. CAFI web page 1–3 (2021).

²² CAFI. New Fund to develop sustainable energy in the DRC. CAFI web page 1–3 (2020).

²³ IRENA. Democratic Republic of Congo – Energy profile. (2022).

²⁴ FONAREDD. Fonds National REDD. FONAREDD web page 1–1 (2022).

²⁵ IEA. Africa Energy Outlook 2019. (2019).

²⁶ Democratic Republic of Congo. Troisième Communication Nationale. (2014).”:https://studylibfr.com/doc/4699335/troisi%C3%A8me-communication-nationale

²⁷ The World Bank. La Banque mondiale approuve 750 millions de dollars pour soutenir la gouvernance, le transport et la connectivité numérique en République démocratique du Congo. The World Bank media web 1–4 (2022).

²⁸ Democratic Republic of Congo. Plan Directeur des Transports urbains de la ville de Kinshasa. (2019).

²⁹ FAO. (2020). République démocratique du Congo.

³⁰ Deshmukh, R., Mileva, A., & Wu, G. C. (2017). Richesses Renouvelables : Comment le solaire et l‘éolien peuvent électrifier la RDC et l’Afrique du Sud.

³¹ TV5 Monde. (2022, May). RDC: Kinshasa veut multiplier sa production de pétrole | TV5MONDE – Informations.

³² The assessment was made based on Figure 2 provided in DRC‘s 2021 NDC document.

³³ See assumptions

³⁴ Global cost-effective pathways assessed by the IPCC Special Report 1.5°C tend to include fossil fuel use well beyond the time at which these could be phased out, compared to what is understood from bottom-up approaches, and often rely on rather conservative assumptions in the development of renewable energy technologies. This tends to result in greater reliance on technological CDR than if a faster transition to renewables were achieved. The scenarios available at the time of this analysis focus particularly on BECCS as a net-negative emission technology, and our downscaling methods do not yet take national BECCS potentials into account.

³⁵ Global cost-effective pathways assessed by the IPCC Special Report 1.5°C tend to include fossil fuel use well beyond the time at which these could be phased out, compared to what is understood from bottom-up approaches, and often rely on rather conservative assumptions in the development of renewable energy technologies. This tends to result in greater reliance on technological CDR than if a faster transition to renewables were achieved. The scenarios available at the time of this analysis focus particularly on BECCS as a net-negative emission technology, and our downscaling methods do not yet take national BECCS potentials into account. To note that the emissions range by 2050 is very broad due to high uncertainties in the assessed models.