The Congo Basin Ark Fund is currently being created by Carousel Bio Energy. Its objective is to address a dual challenge: preserving the world’s second-largest tropical forest and providing the six States of the Congo Basin with the financial and technical means to strengthen their climate sovereignty.

Today, deforestation — driven in particular by reliance on wood for cooking — undermines this unique natural heritage and threatens the health of millions of people. Local energy transition is therefore a vital priority, both for populations and for global climate stability.

The Fund is conceived as a private investment vehicle, designed to progressively evolve into a sovereign climate fund collectively owned by the six States of the Congo Basin: the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Gabon, the Central African Republic, and Equatorial Guinea.

The first structuring action consists in launching the large-scale deployment of modern cookstoves. These devices reduce wood consumption by nearly 80%, limit indoor air pollution, and slow deforestation. Their impact goes beyond emissions reduction: they directly improve public health, ease pressure on ecosystems, and lay the foundation for a new green economy underpinned by certified and verifiable carbon credits.

The Fund is built on a hybrid posture. On one side, it targets private investors — foundations, institutions, and family offices — seeking high-impact projects aligned with ESG standards. On the other, it prepares the establishment of sovereign mechanisms managed by African States, with the support of Carousel Bio Energy in governance, financial structuring, and alignment with national development plans.

This approach combines private capital and public will, financial instruments and long-term policies. It gives the Fund its particular relevance: it does not limit itself to financing projects but establishes durable systems capable of transforming territories.

Our teams mobilize multisectoral expertise. From low-carbon urban planning to sustainable hospitality, from ecological construction to carbon finance, each project pursues the same objective: reducing emissions, ensuring ESG compliance, and building long-term investor confidence. This approach is already being applied within the framework of the New City of Kinshasa Kia Mona, where Carousel Bio Energy is leading the low-carbon pathway in coordination with our sister company Carousel Finance.

The Congo Basin Ark Fund is not an abstract idea. Its structuring is underway, its first actions are defined, and its vocation is clear: to provide the countries of the Congo Basin with a concrete tool to protect their forests, improve public health, and build their climate sovereignty.