Strategic Leverage and Climate Justice: The DRC Experience
The DRC used its oil reserves and vast rainforests as strategic leverage by signalling the environmental costs of inadequate climate finance. The 2022 oil and gas auction drew global attention to what could be lost if vulnerable countries are forced toward extractive pathways due to lack of support.
Multilateral coordination was central to this strategy. By working through REDD+, the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, and alliances with Brazil and Indonesia, the DRC increased its bargaining power and helped advance mechanisms such as sovereign carbon credits at COP27.
The approach is closely tied to the loss and damage debate, highlighting the injustice faced by low-emitting yet highly vulnerable countries and strengthening demands for compensation from historically high emitters.
Ethically, the strategy exposes a failure in climate justice: vulnerable countries should not need to threaten environmental harm to secure finance, underscoring the need for fair and predictable climate funding.