Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Carbon credits · Republic of Congo · 2020–2025

TotalEnergies Batéké acacia carbon project (Congo)

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
What the record lacks: 4 none on record · 1 insufficient · 1 not measured · 1 disputed · 3 unclear See the gaps

A 40,000-hectare acacia plantation on the Batéké plateau in the Republic of Congo was planned to generate carbon credits for TotalEnergies. Reporting found that farmers lost land, and that the project stopped in May 2025 with about 12.5% of the target planted.

~5,000 ha (12.5%)Planted against the 40,000 ha target when the project stopped (May 2025)
As reported; figures from the reporting cited in the sources.

Status As of 2025 (latest date in the sources): project stopped in May 2025 with about 12.5% of the target planted; no lease termination, return of land or court case on record.

What?
A 40,000-hectare acacia plantation was planned for TotalEnergies on state-leased land; farmers lost land and the project stopped with 12.5% planted. SourceMaterial
Where?
Batéké plateau, Republic of Congo. SourceMaterial
When?
2020 to May 2025. SourceMaterial
Who?
Gained
  • TotalEnergies — Planned carbon sink to offset its emissions, on land sub-leased from a forestry company. SourceMaterial
Lost
  • Nine families on the plateau — Land, paid about $1 per hectare in total about $80,000. SourceMaterial
Harmed
  • 160 people counted as dependent on the land — Livelihoods tied to the land, per an incomplete census. SourceMaterial
Why?
To plant acacia as a carbon sink for TotalEnergies' emissions. SourceMaterial
How?
Law of 18 September 2020 declared the land state property; 60-year lease with an eviction guarantee clause; sub-lease to TotalEnergies. SourceMaterial
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

On 18 September 2020 a law in the Republic of Congo declared land on the Batéké plateau "private property of the state". About six weeks later the state leased the land for 60 years to a forestry company, at $105,634 a year. The company sub-leased it to TotalEnergies, which planned a 40,000-hectare acacia plantation (known as BaCaSi) to offset its emissions. The project was expected to remove 10 million tonnes of CO2 over 20 years.

The lease contained a clause under which the state guaranteed the eviction of "all alleged landholders". Reporting by Unearthed and SourceMaterial (SourceMaterial published 12 December 2022) found that nine families were paid about $1 per hectare, about $80,000 in total. Land in the area had earlier been leased at about 16 times that rate. An incomplete census by the Justice and Peace Commission counted 160 people who depended on the land.

Pulchérie Amboula, who grew cassava on land inherited from her father and processed it into the staple food foufou, told the reporters that men in pickup trucks watched her until she removed her tractor from the field. The head of the Nkonon land, Maixent Jourdain Adzabi, said his family had "never been involved" in consultations. Ragan Ndzoro, who received part of the payment, called the money insignificant.

The companies said the land had not been expropriated because it already belonged to the state, and that cassava fields had not been touched. In May 2025 the project stopped, with about 5,000 of the 40,000 hectares planted. The sources reviewed do not say whether the lease was terminated, whether TotalEnergies formally withdrew, or whether Amboula returned to her land.

  1. 202018 September: law declares the land private property of the state; about six weeks later it is leased for 60 years at $105,634 a year; the lease guarantees eviction of all alleged landholders
  2. 2021Nine families paid about $1 per hectare, about $80,000 in total (2021–2022)
  3. 2022SourceMaterial publishes its report on 12 December
  4. 2025May: project stops with about 5,000 of 40,000 hectares planted (12.5% of target)

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Were landholders expropriated for the plantation?
Company or project
The companies involved

The land was not expropriated because it already belonged to the state; cassava fields were not touched.

SourceMaterial
Communities and civil society
Farmers and local leaders interviewed

Families lost fields, were paid about $1 per hectare and were not involved in consultations.

SourceMaterial
Government and regulators
Government of the Republic of Congo

No response is on record in the sources reviewed.

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • A 40,000-hectare plantation to build the company's own carbon sink, with an expected 10 million tonnes of CO2 removed over 20 years.
    Project description as reported by SourceMaterial · SourceMaterial

Recorded

  • The land was declared the state's private property on 18 September 2020 and leased for 60 years at $105,634 a year; the lease required the state to guarantee eviction of all alleged landholders.
    SourceMaterial
  • Nine families received about $80,000 in total, about $1 per hectare; earlier leases in the area were about 16 times higher.
    SourceMaterial
  • An incomplete census by the Justice and Peace Commission found 160 people dependent on the land.
    SourceMaterial
  • About 5,000 of 40,000 hectares (12.5%) had been planted when the project stopped in May 2025.

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Paid to nine families for the land≈ $0.08m
About $1 per hectare, as reported; recorded in millions.
Annual lease paid to the state (per year, for 60 years)$0.11m
Currency: USD · Window: 2020–2022. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • The companies involved (TotalEnergies and the lease holders, as reported) (2022): The land was not expropriated because it already belonged to the state, and cassava fields were not touched. · SourceMaterial

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Target area
40,000 ha
Acacia plantation on the Batéké plateau
Planted at stop (May 2025)
~5,000 ha
12.5% of target
Independent ecological evaluation
None on record
No evaluation in the sources reviewed

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
No court caseNo independent ecological evaluationDisplacement reportedKey earnings undisclosed

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.

Court

Accounts

  • Disputed Were landholders expropriated for the plantation?
  • None on record Government of the Republic of Congo: No response is on record in the sources reviewed.

Record

  • Unclear Whether Pulchérie Amboula returned to her land: not on record.
  • Unclear Whether the lease was terminated: not on record.
  • Unclear Whether TotalEnergies formally withdrew: not on record. One account of its withdrawal rests on a single secondary source.
  • None on record The Justice and Peace Commission's census was not completed.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that TotalEnergies planned to spend up to $100 million a year on its carbon sink programme in 2020–2030 and to build a stock of 50 million tonnes of credits.
  • None on record No court case on the evictions is on record.

Did the harm stop?

The project stopped in May 2025. No source says that the affected families regained their land or were further compensated.

Who paid?

Farming families on the plateau, who lost fields and, in the cases reported, were paid about $1 per hectare.

Sources

Voices on record: ✓ Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

Company or project

Press and investigations

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Science and environment

Hectare (ha)
A unit of area equal to 10,000 square metres, about 2.5 acres. 100 hectares make one square kilometre.

Carbon and conservation finance

Carbon credit
A certificate representing one tonne of carbon dioxide (or equivalent) that a project says it reduced, avoided or removed. Buyers use credits to balance their own emissions in climate claims.
Offset
Using carbon credits to balance emissions released elsewhere, so that a buyer can claim lower or zero net emissions.

Bonds and banking

Guarantee
A commitment by a third party, often a development bank, to pay if the borrower does not.
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