Kinshasa, 28 August 2025. The Climate & Community Hub – Kinshasa is officially launched. This structured platform aims to train, structure, secure, connect and protect the climate project ecosystem in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the support of academic, financial and institutional partners.
The Democratic Republic of Congo plays a strategic role globally. It is home to nearly sixty per cent of the Congo Basin, the world’s largest tropical carbon sink, absorbing around 1.5 billion tonnes of CO₂ annually. Yet, the country remains on the margins of international climate finance flows. The Climate & Community Hub – Kinshasa seeks to change this reality by training public and private stakeholders, structuring carbon projects, securing investments, connecting Congolese projects to international markets and protecting local communities.
On 28 August 2025, a decisive milestone is reached: the official launch of the Climate & Community Hub – Kinshasa.
Two years ago, I chose to dedicate my energy to a field still emerging in the Democratic Republic of Congo: climate finance. This decision arose from a fundamental observation: the DRC, home to nearly sixty per cent of the Congo Basin – the world’s largest tropical carbon sink, absorbing around 1.5 billion tonnes of CO₂ annually – paradoxically remains on the margins of international financial flows dedicated to climate action.
From the outset, it was clear to me that building a credible ecosystem required more than just access to finance. It also demanded capacity building. Training the private sector, enabling it to design and structure bankable projects aligned with international standards. Training public institutions and regulators to establish a clear, transparent and reliable framework. Ensuring that local communities are the primary beneficiaries.
A first proof of concept confirmed this conviction: the financing of an improved cookstoves project, jointly supported by a local commercial bank and an international investor. This project reduced firewood consumption, improved household living conditions and preserved forests. It demonstrated that climate finance can deliver measurable and replicable impact.
Building on this experience, I strengthened my academic background at the University of Oxford, within the Said Business School, by completing the programme “Sustainable Finance: ESG and the Future of Finance”. This training reinforced my conviction that the DRC must seize this strategic opportunity to position itself as a central actor in the global climate transition.
Our mission is to establish a bridge between the DRC and international climate finance markets.
Our vision is to foster the emergence of a compliance carbon market in the DRC, robust, transparent and credible, positioning the country alongside other African economies already more advanced, while generating tangible and lasting impact for its communities.
The Climate & Community Hub is not a stand-alone initiative. It is built on a structured alliance of academic, financial and institutional partners, providing the rigour, transparency and credibility required to secure investor confidence.
We therefore invite Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), commercial banks and private investors, companies seeking to align their CSR and ESG budgets with credible projects, regulators and public institutions, as well as carbon project developers and local communities, to join this structured and ambitious dynamic.
Climate finance in the DRC is not an option. It is a strategic necessity. The Climate & Community Hub aims to become the trusted infrastructure that will transform this necessity into opportunity.
Thibaut Deckers
Founder of the Climate & Community Hub – Kinshasa
28 August 2025