Support for the development of the DRC National Climate Plan République démocratique du Congo

Context of the service

In line with the Copenhagen and Cancun Accords, the DRC wanted to (i) adopt a National Climate Plan (PNC) and (ii) strengthen its national capacities to implement the Climate Convention and its Kyoto Protocol, and ensure the negotiation of legal instruments that will complement them in the future.
The establishment of a PNC was a challenge for a country like the DRC: a huge territory, with high forest cover, very rich in mineral resources, with a growing demographic curve, high urbanization and a pressing need for development and reconstruction in all areas. Thanks to funding of nearly €400,000 from AFD, the objective was to take into account both the latest advances in international climate negotiations and the specificities of the DRC to develop an adapted and realistic but ambitious PNC.
The expert, project manager, developed the intervention methodology and prepared the response to expression of interest, then to call for tenders, by identifying the seven experts working on the PNC: a long-term technical assistant, two versatile agro-economists, two energy companies and two specialists in greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories, accredited by the Climate Convention. The objective was therefore to provide responsive, pragmatic and practical technical assistance to move forward step by step, promote training through action and achieve initial results in adaptation and mitigation in the short term.

Services provided

The Expert Head of Mission, in close consultation with the Resident Technical Assistant, supervised the start of the implementation of the four successive stages of the NCP, namely:
1/ GHG INVENTORY: refine the GHG inventory in the short term in order to determine the most emitting sectors in the DRC and develop the terms of reference to refine this inventory,
2/ POLICY ANALYSES: make a qualitative analysis of the impact of mitigation and adaptation policies and identify their strengths/weaknesses,
3/ CLIMATE MODELING: (i) perform qualitative/quantitative modelling of policy impact, with or without mitigation/adaptation measures, (ii) develop terms of reference for the assessment of the costs of mitigation measures (per teCO2) and the costs/benefits of adaptation measures,
4/ PNC: integrate the recommendations into the ad hoc sectoral documents and compile them into a PNC describing the institutional arrangements necessary for the rapid implementation of flagship measures.
In parallel with these four successive stages, two transversal actions were carried out:
1/ NEGOTIATIONS - STRUCTURING: support national climate negotiators and support the structuring of a National Climate Committee,
2/ COMMUNICATION - CO-FINANCING: widely disseminate the recommendations of the PNC (i) for Congolese citizens, and (ii) to the international community and donors.

Summary of the service

Support for the development of the DRC National Climate Plan: (i) Refinement of the GHG inventory to determine the most emitting sectors in the country and develop terms of reference to refine this inventory, (ii) Qualitative analysis of the impact of mitigation and adaptation policies and identification of their strengths/weaknesses, (iii) Support for national climate negotiators and the structuring of a National Climate Committee