A New York investment firm is to launch a $400m (£334m) bid for oil concessions in the Congo basin rainforest and Virunga national park with plans to turn them into conservation projects, the Guardian can reveal.
EQX Biome, a biodiversity fintech company, has sent an expression of interest to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) government for 27 oil exploration blocks put up for auction last July, some of which are in critical ecosystems.
The concessions include areas of critically endangered gorilla habitat, parts of the world’s largest tropical peatlands in the Cuvette Centrale, and swathes of the planet’s second-largest rainforest in the Congo basin, prompting criticism from environmentalists and western governments who have warned of irreversible environmental harm if exploration goes ahead. Three gas blocks, put up for auction at the same time, have already been sold to North American companies.
The preservation of tropical forests will be at the centre of discussions at the One Forest summit in Libreville this week, where the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and Ali Bongo, the president of Gabon, will meet with governments, NGOs and Indigenous leaders to discuss their conservation, with a particular focus on the Congo basin.
New York-based EQX Biome is proposing to prevent oil exploration in these areas by establishing conservation projects in partnership with NGOs and by selling carbon and biodiversity credits based on avoiding the damage oil exploration would have caused.
The investment would help the DRC to meet its contribution to protecting 30% of the planet by 2030, a target agreed at the Cop15 biodiversity summit last December in Montreal, said EQX Biome.
The company estimates the project would generate at least $6bn, create more jobs than oil exploration and produce higher tax revenue for the DRC government, which has vigorously defended the auction and accused western nations of hypocrisy after US climate envoy John Kerry urged it to abandon the sale.
The Guardian understands that DRC ministers are considering the proposal after hydrocarbons minister Didier Budimbu last month postponed the end of the auction until October amid rumours of lukewarm interest.
Matthias Pitkowitz, EQX Biome CEO, said: “The pitch to the DRC government is that they are the second most nature-rich country on Earth, they have the second largest rainforest after Brazil, nations agreed at biodiversity Cop15 that these areas need to be protected and there’s economic value in it. Let us prove that we have an alternative to oil exploration and provide a way to centre the economy around nature conservation instead of destroying them for extractive industries.
“Oil and gas have never left anything good behind in Africa and take a very long time to generate meaningful revenue. It is clear that all rainforest nations are waiting for a mechanism like this to monetise rainforests and conservation results.”
The DRC was second only to Brazil in the amount of forest cleared in 2021, the last year with high-quality data available, with small-scale agriculture and demand for firewood being the primary drivers. By working with conservation organisations and Indigenous communities, EQX Biome says its investment will create alternative livelihoods while preserving the forest. The firm would not manage any conservation areas in the DRC, only facilitate finance and standards.
But the bid has raised concerns among some environmental groups.
“The capitalist agenda of financialising nature and greenwashing pollution through offsets and credit systems is a nightmare for people and the planet,” said Irene Wabiwa, Greenpeace’s lead on the Congo basin rainforest.
“Regarding EQX Biome, it is unclear if oil companies are actually going to bid in the auction and how seriously their bids can be taken, which means there may not be anything to offset – even in theory. [It raises] the risk of an expansion of the violent armed model of ‘fortress conservation’ already prevalent in the Congo rainforest,” she said.
Pitkowitz said his company’s bid would focus on integrity for investors and local people, and would seek to avoid the pitfalls of rainforest carbon offsetting schemes highlighted in a recent joint Guardian investigation, which found many credits approved by the world’s leading certifier appeared to be largely worthless, with one project linked to forced evictions of local people.
“Companies and investors need a way to buy into a result in conservation so they can judge if their money has been efficiently spent. People need to differentiate it to donations. Our project will create a really large unquestionable outcome: either we avoid oil drilling on 28m hectares of land or we do not,” said Pitkowitz.
“Carbon credits are the only way to really monetise forest conservation today. The idea is that that $400m will accomplish large-scale conservation outcomes, which will be rewarded with carbon credits, biodiversity credits and, over 20 years, generate significantly more tax revenue and jobs than extractive industries,” he said.
The private sector is being encouraged to invest in nature conservation as part of the UN’s biodiversity targets. At an event organised by King Charles and the UK government earlier this month, the UK environment minister, Thérèse Coffey, said the financial sector had a key role in ensuring the success of this decade’s targets.
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