Overview
- Brazil unveiled the market-based Tropical Forest Forever Facility to invest pooled capital and use returns to reward countries that curb deforestation.
- To qualify, countries must keep annual forest loss below 0.5%, with proposed payments of $4 per hectare preserved and penalties of $140 per hectare destroyed verified by satellites.
- The proposal targets about $25 billion in public seed funding and roughly $100 billion from private investors, aiming to generate around $4 billion in yearly payouts after ramp-up.
- Initial commitments include $1 billion each from Brazil and Indonesia, a conditional pledge of about $3 billion from Norway over ten years, and $500 million from France, while Germany did not name a figure.
- Experts and NGOs questioned verification, projected returns, and governance, and organizers say about 74 forest-rich countries could benefit as COP30 negotiators work to turn political backing into operational arrangements.