The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is set to introduce Lumiere, its new national carbon registry, at the 8th Global Environment Facility Assembly in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in June. Full operation of the platform is expected later in 2026, pending the passage of supporting legislation through the national legislature.
A team of environmental scientists conducting carbon monitoring and geospatial mapping in the heart of the Congo rainforest. AI generated picture.
Lumiere was first announced in November 2025 by the DRC’s Ministry of Environment, in collaboration with the Ministry of Digital Economy, Singapore-based climate infrastructure specialist M&M Greentech, and its technology partner TRST01. The local technology partner is Lumiere Credit Carbon Platform SAS—a joint venture between DRC-based CDC (Forrest Group) and M&M Greentech/TRST01.
The first area to be brought onto the platform will be a protected corridor covering approximately 15% of DRC national territory—an expanse comparable in size to France—within the Congo Basin. The Ministry of Environment said prioritising this corridor would allow the registry to demonstrate its capabilities at a meaningful scale, anchoring Lumiere within one of the most significant intact carbon sinks on the planet.
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The DRC’s forests span around 155 million hectares and are estimated to store approximately 30 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Credits issued through the platform are intended to align with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and the UN’s CORSIA aviation decarbonisation scheme.
The DRC recently issued its first formal Letter of Authorisation to clean cooking developer Burn, enabling credits from clean cooking activities in the country to be used under Article 6 and CORSIA. Austrian developer Econetix has also received Letters of Authorisation for two cookstove projects in the country.
The platform incorporates digital monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV), enabling the provenance and status of each registered asset to be traced. Lumiere is also designed to bring the DRC’s existing carbon projects into a single transparent view, with registration for active projects expected to open at launch.
The June event in Samarkand will outline the platform’s scope, its first deployment area, and the timeline toward full operation. On launch, the registry aims to offer participants the opportunity to operate within a common, verifiable national framework, consolidating the DRC’s carbon assets under a unified national accounting structure.
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