Congo to set up battery council to promote clean energy

Kinshasa, Nov 25 (IANS) The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is to set up a battery council to promote cleaner energy, the DRC's Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde announced at the opening of the 2021 DRC-Africa Business Forum.

The two-day DRC Africa Business Forum, which opened on Wednesday in Kinshasa, is convened by the DRC government, with the aim to facilitate investments to increase Africa's share of the battery, electric vehicles (EV) and renewable energy value chain.

According to Lukonde, the battery council has the role of steering government policy to further promote the electric battery industry, the EV market and cleaner energies in Africa, Xinhua news agency reported.

In his opening speech at the event, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi noted that the DRC, with to its mineral resources reserve, must occupy a strategic position in the process of transforming clean energy.

"Indeed, the global transition to green energy and the decarbonization of economies is a requirement nowadays, which stimulates the demand for certain metals," said Felix Tshisekedi, referring to cobalt, one of the most important ingredients for EV batteries.

The DRC accounts for nearly 70 per cent of global cobalt production, while more than 25 million tons of cobalt reserves, or about two-thirds of the world's reserves, are identified in its subsoil.