Several countries have endorsed Brazil's Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), with Norway, Indonesia and France pledging a combined $4.5bn, Brazilian government officials said today.
TFFF, a global fund to preserve global tropical forests, aims to help pay developing countries $4/hectare (ha) for preserved tropical forests. The goal is to raise around $125bn for the fund, to protect and conserve roughly 1bn ha of tropical forests globally. Brazil officially launched the fund on Thursday in Belem, on the first day of a world leaders' summit ahead of the UN Cop 30 climate talks, which start on 10 November.
Norway pledged up to 30bn Norwegian kroner ($2.94bn) over 10 years. Indonesia earmarked $1bn, while France pledged around €500mn ($577.4mn), Brazilian finance minister Fernando Haddad said at the leaders' summit, without outlining the timeframe for those two countries' pledges.
Colombia also pledged $250mn, the Global Strategic Communications Council said.
Brazil pledged $1bn to the fund in September.
"The main problem in international climate work these days is that there are not too many bold ideas," Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, Norway's climate and environment minister, told reporters. But he commended TFFF for being the opposite.
"At the point where we are now, reducing deforestation of tropical forests will not be enough," he said. "We need to create incentives for keeping the remaining tropical forests for all the time we have ahead of us. Thus, I can say very clearly that Norway has liked TFFF's idea and model from the outset".
He called on more nations to make pledges and outlined some of Norway's conditions for the funding. Norway will not be responsible for more than 20pc of the fund's total amount, and the fund must mobilise at least NKr100bn by the end of 2026.
Haddad previously said that he expected TFFF to reach $10bn before Brazil transfers the Cop presidency in November next year. But he is much more confident now that TFFF will achieve that goal, he added.
In total, 53 countries endorsed TFFF, with Portugal and the Netherlands making smaller contributions to cover the fund's operational costs, the undersecretary for economic affairs of Brazil's finance ministry Joao Paulo de Resende told reporters on the summit's sidelines. Portugal donated €1mn, and the Netherlands donated $5mn.
"The backing from almost 50 countries is encouraging and marks an important start for the TFFF, reflecting growing recognition of the need for collective action to protect and restore tropical forests," the interim executive director of non-profit World Resources Institute Brazil Mirela Sandrini said. "However, the pool of those that have actually committed funding so far remains limited", she added.
Brazil expects other countries to make pledges in the future, Haddad said. Germany will make an announcement on the amount of its pledge tomorrow, he added.
The UK, on the other hand, has said it will not make a financial pledge at this time, although it is endorsing the fund and will contribute to spreading its word to both the public and private sectors, Haddad said.
Prince William of Wales, who spoke on behalf of the UK at the world leaders' summit, called the TFFF a "visionary step" in the fight against climate change.
TFFF will be "one of the key, concrete outcomes" of Cop 30, Brazilian president Luiz Inacio da Lula said during TFFF's official launch today.
