Philanthropic groups pledge $73 million to rainforest fund

A total of $73 million in philanthropic pledges to the Tropical Forest Forever Facility was announced this week during the COP31 climate summit, DW said. The amount is part of the $88 million pledged by philanthropic organizations so far.

The fund, launched at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, in 2025, aims to make protecting tropical forests more profitable than clearing them. It needs $10 billion in startup capital by the end of 2026, but confirmed pledges from countries, nongovernmental organizations and foundations total $7.9 billion, not necessarily all of it received.

How the fund would pay for conservation

The financing plan combines government capital, mainly low-interest loans, with bonds sold to private investors. The fund would invest the money in international financial markets and use some of the profits for forest payments. Its longer-term plan calls for $25 billion from government donors and $100 billion from private donors.

Under the proposed system, countries would receive $4 a year for each hectare of forest they preserve, with at least 20% allocated to Indigenous peoples and local communities; Felix Finkbeiner, founder of the German environmental organization Plant-for-the-Planet, said the payments would cover intact ecosystems rather than timber plantations, with satellite images used to assess forests. Finkbeiner is responsible for forest conservation and advocacy at the organization, which launched TFFF Watch, an independent platform tracking investments. Payments would be reduced for cleared or damaged forests and could be frozen if countries did not use the money for rainforest conservation.

Government pledges and the deadline

Norway is the largest prospective donor, with a $3 billion pledge conditional on the agreed total being in place by year-end. Finkbeiner said the deadline was not absolute, but that Norway’s government would otherwise have serious difficulty securing parliamentary approval.

Germany’s proposed contribution also needs parliamentary approval. Its government has proposed around €1 billion over 10 years, with payments starting in 2027, when the fund is expected to begin generating money for conservation. Finkbeiner said he was optimistic that further commitments during COP31 and December would bring fundraising to the startup target.