Latest news with #TFFF
Business Times
05-07-2025
- Business
- Business Times
China signals investment in Brazil-led global forest fund: sources
[RIO DE JANEIRO] China has signalled to the Brazilian government that it will invest in the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, a multilateral mechanism funding conservation of endangered forests around the world, two sources with knowledge of negotiations told Reuters. An investment by China in the fund, which Brazil first proposed in 2023, would signal an important shift in climate finance, which has relied on funding from wealthy nations most responsible for global warming to date. China's commitment to the fund could pave the way for emerging economies to contribute financially to climate change mitigation, moving beyond the mandatory requirements imposed on developed nations by the 2015 Paris Agreement. The new approach comes as wealthy nations such as the United States retreat from ambitious pledges to fund projects curbing climate change, despite growing pressure from poorer nations struggling to cope with the impacts of a warmer climate. At last year's United Nations climate summit, leaders of developing countries lambasted wealthy nations over their annual US$300 billion global finance target, covering just a fraction of the US$1.3 trillion that economists say is necessary. Chinese Finance Minister Lan Fo'an expressed the intention to contribute to the forests fund, known as TFFF, in a meeting with his Brazilian counterpart Fernando Haddad on Thursday, sources said. They spoke on the sidelines of a meeting of finance ministers in the run-up to the Brics summit of major developing nations that starts in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 12.30 pm ESG Insights An exclusive weekly report on the latest environmental, social and governance issues. Sign Up Sign Up '(Lan) told (Haddad) that he considered the fund idea important and that China would collaborate,' said one source, who witnessed the conversation, adding that the discussion did not involve specific values. The Brazilian government has taken the message from China's finance minister as a signal that Beijing will contribute funds, the sources said, although a public announcement is not expected until the UN climate summit, COP30, in November. China's embassy in Brasilia and Brazil's Finance Ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had previously discussed the fund with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to China in May, according to sources. Brazil also aims to attract other resource-rich developing nations to the fund, particularly from the Middle East, the sources said. The Brazilian government sees potential for the TFFF to be its main new deliverable at COP30, which it will host in the Amazonian city of Belem. Policymakers have envisioned TFFF as a US$125 billion fund, combining sovereign and private-sector contributions, to be managed like an endowment paying countries annual stipends based on how much of their tropical forests remain standing. While sources do not expect the fund to launch at that scale, the idea received initial signs of support from the UK, France, Germany, Norway, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. Early backing from the United States evaporated after US President Donald Trump exited the Paris Agreement. The interest in the TFFF underscores growing international attention on the preservation of tropical forests, rich in planet-warming carbon, as a powerful tool to combat climate change and stave off biodiversity loss. REUTERS
Scoop
24-04-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Report On TFFF Exposes Flaws, Urges Real Forest Protection
Press Release – Global Forest Coalition TFFF expected to be launched at COP30 in Brazil UTRECHT/LA PAZ, 24 APRIL 2025 –NGOs including forest people's rights groups are raising deep concerns about a new $125 billion market mechanism called the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) that has been proposed to incentivise the preservation of tropical forests and is expected to launch at this year's UN Climate Conference (COP30) in Belém. It is being spearheaded by the governments of Brazil, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which contain more than half of the world's rainforests. A new report from the Global Forest Coalition (GFC) and Fundación Solón explains what is known so far about the TFFF and highlights many questions that are cause for alarm. These include whether allocating just $4 per hectare of jungle could solve the 'market failure' that TFFF proponents claim is behind deforestation, and why the future of tropical forests should have to rely on private investment while public funding increasingly goes to high-emission sectors such as the military. 'Forests are not commodities to be traded on financial markets,' said Mary Louise Malig, GFC policy director and co-author of the report. 'They are complex living ecosystems with intrinsic value, essential to the livelihoods of countless communities and the health of our planet. The TFFF reduces their worth to a mere dollar-per-hectare figure, which is not only wholly inadequate but fundamentally misguided.' 'The climate emergency is not a market failure but a failure of governance and responsibility. We need to confront the structural drivers of deforestation and invest in real solutions that empower local communities,' added Pablo Solón, director of Fundación Solón and co-author of the report. 'Climate finance has long-since been co-opted by corporate interests, and the TFFF is no different — the alarm bells should be ringing for us all. The TFFF is a shiny new tool for greenwashing, designed to attract investment rather than tackle the systemic drivers of deforestation.' Market mechanisms like carbon trading and offsets have proven to be a flawed way of helping frontline communities and instead allow polluters to continue business as usual. This is why they are known among civil society as false solutions; they ignore the root causes of the climate and biodiversity crisis. 'By sidelining Indigenous voices and decision-making power, particularly women, the TFFF perpetuates the same systems of governance that have historically oppressed these communities,' explained Kwami Kpondzo, a campaign coordinator at GFC. 'Forest conservation mechanisms must take into consideration Indigenous traditional knowledge and prioritise the rights and needs of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, Afro-descendant peoples, women, and youth who manage over half of the world's remaining intact forests.' The new report on the TFFF also champions the establishment of an alternative non-market finance mechanism that provides sustainable funding levels directly to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. 'The climate crisis cannot be solved by mechanisms that perpetuate inequality,' said Satrio Manggala of GFC member organisation WALHI Indonesia. 'We need solutions that give direct power to Indigenous Peoples and women, who are the true stewards of our forests, rather than sidelining them in favour of market-driven approaches.'
Scoop
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Report On TFFF Exposes Flaws, Urges Real Forest Protection
UTRECHT/LA PAZ, 24 APRIL 2025 –NGOs including forest people's rights groups are raising deep concerns about a new $125 billion market mechanism called the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) that has been proposed to incentivise the preservation of tropical forests and is expected to launch at this year's UN Climate Conference (COP30) in Belém. It is being spearheaded by the governments of Brazil, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which contain more than half of the world's rainforests. A new report from the Global Forest Coalition (GFC) and Fundación Solón explains what is known so far about the TFFF and highlights many questions that are cause for alarm. These include whether allocating just $4 per hectare of jungle could solve the "market failure" that TFFF proponents claim is behind deforestation, and why the future of tropical forests should have to rely on private investment while public funding increasingly goes to high-emission sectors such as the military. 'Forests are not commodities to be traded on financial markets,' said Mary Louise Malig, GFC policy director and co-author of the report. 'They are complex living ecosystems with intrinsic value, essential to the livelihoods of countless communities and the health of our planet. The TFFF reduces their worth to a mere dollar-per-hectare figure, which is not only wholly inadequate but fundamentally misguided.' 'The climate emergency is not a market failure but a failure of governance and responsibility. We need to confront the structural drivers of deforestation and invest in real solutions that empower local communities,' added Pablo Solón, director of Fundación Solón and co-author of the report. 'Climate finance has long-since been co-opted by corporate interests, and the TFFF is no different — the alarm bells should be ringing for us all. The TFFF is a shiny new tool for greenwashing, designed to attract investment rather than tackle the systemic drivers of deforestation.' Market mechanisms like carbon trading and offsets have proven to be a flawed way of helping frontline communities and instead allow polluters to continue business as usual. This is why they are known among civil society as false solutions; they ignore the root causes of the climate and biodiversity crisis. 'By sidelining Indigenous voices and decision-making power, particularly women, the TFFF perpetuates the same systems of governance that have historically oppressed these communities,' explained Kwami Kpondzo, a campaign coordinator at GFC. 'Forest conservation mechanisms must take into consideration Indigenous traditional knowledge and prioritise the rights and needs of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, Afro-descendant peoples, women, and youth who manage over half of the world's remaining intact forests.' The new report on the TFFF also champions the establishment of an alternative non-market finance mechanism that provides sustainable funding levels directly to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. 'The climate crisis cannot be solved by mechanisms that perpetuate inequality,' said Satrio Manggala of GFC member organisation WALHI Indonesia. 'We need solutions that give direct power to Indigenous Peoples and women, who are the true stewards of our forests, rather than sidelining them in favour of market-driven approaches.'
