The Clean Energy Transition in the DRC

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Opportunities and Challenges of the Lobito Corridor Initiative

As the European Union deepens its engagement in Africa’s critical raw material value chains, the Lobito Corridor Initiative has emerged as a flagship Global Gateway investment. Designed as a strategic trade and transport route, the corridor connects the port of Lobito in Angola to Zambia’s Copperbelt through the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), facilitating the export of transition minerals and agricultural products to global markets.

While the initiative is framed as a cornerstone for sustainable connectivity and the clean energy transition, it raises pressing concerns: how will the expansion of mining and infrastructure projects affect the DRC’s fragile ecosystems—particularly the vital Miombo forests in Southern Katanga and Lualaba? How will it impact the lives of local communities through displacement and relocation? And how will the project address the deep energy access gap in mining-affected regions?

Resource Matters and Fern hosted a side event - The Clean Energy Transition in the DRC: Opportunities and Challenges of the Lobito Corridor Initiative - during this year’s EU Raw Materials Week.

Date: Thursday 20 November 2025
Time: 9.00-10.45 (CET)
Venue: Hotel Marivaux, Brussels

Interpretation between English and French will be available. A light breakfast and refreshments will be provided.

This event explored pathways for aligning European investments in the Lobito Corridor Initiative with environmental protection, social justice, and equitable energy access and highlighted urgent trade-offs between industrial expansion, forests and people’s rights in the DRC. The dialogue included civil society perspectives as well as the EU’s institutional insights on how to ensure that Global Gateway projects such as the Lobito Corridor project promote sustainable development and forest governance and do not exacerbate climate and social risks. Moderated by Guillaume de Brier (IPIS), panellists included: