Brazil lists climate finance solutions in New York
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday (Sep. 23) are leading a discussion on the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) in New York. The program is part of the High-Level Special Event on Climate Action, promoted parallel to the 80th UN General Assembly.
During the meeting, in addition to the fund to compensate countries for preserving tropical forests, details will be provided on the proposal for a carbon credit market coalition. The two mechanisms will work in a complementary manner, compensating countries that show concrete conservation results and roll out greenhouse gas capture initiatives.
A statement from Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change says the fund aims to raise an initial contribution of USD 25 billion from investor countries as junior capital before the launch of the initiative at the 30th UN Climate Change Conference (COP30), to be held in the Amazon city of Belém, North Brazil, in November. “This injection should make it possible to leverage an additional USD 100 billion (senior capital) from the private sector over the next few years,” the statement says.
“It is not a donation, but an initiative that operates on market logic, leveraging private resources from public investments. For every dollar contributed by countries, we hope to mobilize about four dollars from the private sector, creating a permanent trust fund. It is a new way of financing conservation, with shared responsibility and a vision for the future,” explained Environment Minister Marina Silva.
In practice, resources are expected to guarantee a transfer of USD 4 billion per hectare of preserved rainforest. A total of 74 countries can benefit, as long as they demonstrate forest conservation results with satellite monitoring and allocate 20 percent of the resources to indigenous and traditional communities.
Conceived by the Brazilian government and launched in 2023, the fund was unveiled in Dubai by President Lula during COP28 and is now supported by five countries home to tropical forests – Colombia, Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, and Malaysia – and five other potential investors – Germany, United Arab Emirates, France, Norway, and the UK.
Dialogue
The event began Monday (22) with talks on climate action with a focus on mitigation, adaptation, financing, and information integrity.
The resulting recommendations should be presented at the close of the event on Wednesday (24) as guidelines for COP30.
