Germany pledges one billion euros to tropical rainforest fund
Germany will invest one billion euros from its federal budget into a global fund set up to protect tropical forests, the government announced during the UN climate change conference COP30 in Belém, Brazil. The so-called Tropical Forest Finance Facility (TFFF) will provide funds to countries to keep existing forests intact.
“We are not providing a loan here, nor are we just giving guarantees. We are giving money,” said environment minister Carsten Schneider at a press conference in Belém. “We want this to be a lasting success, which is why Germany has made a clear long-term commitment to participate in this fund and help shape its management.”
Schneider said Germany would provide 100 million euros annually over ten years from the federal budget of the development and environment ministries. He said that Germany would not be interested in receiving a share of the interest that the TFFF would generate. German parliament has yet to greenlight the contribution.
"Humanity would be in a sorry state” without intact forests, said the minister. Successful forest protection means that residents must have a better life thanks to keeping their forests healthy rather than from potential revenues from clearing it, Schneider stressed, arguing that this made forest protection also a social issue.
Environmental organisation WWF welcomed that Germany would provide its contribution as a grant, but criticised that the country could have pledged more, given its economic standing, and by comparison with Norway’s 3-billion-dollar contribution. Greenpeace Germany CEO Martin Kaiser said that the “political signal” sent by the decision to support the TFFF could help make COP30 a success.
Healthy tropical forests are usually rich in biodiversity, and a key carbon sink, meaning they absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than they release. This makes them one of the most important tools of global action to mitigate climate change. However, logging and deforestation, but also more frequent and severe extreme weather due to climate change have weakened many forests' capacity to act as carbon sinks.
German contribution “only a fig leaf” – opposition MP
The TFFF is meant to leverage funds to keep tropical forests intact. It would function akin to a multilateral sovereign wealth fund, where part of the returns go to the investors and the other part to forest protection. Traditional donor countries like Germany and other sponsors provide the initial capital base in the form of long-term loans, grants or guarantees, with Brazil's government targeting 25 billion dollars. This would provide the basis for private investors to contribute an additional 100 billion dollars. The money would be invested, and in an ideal scenario generate a net return (after investors are paid) of around 3-4 billion dollars for forest protection annually.
Julia Verlinden, an MP for Germany's opposition Green Party, criticised that the government was “celebrating itself internationally as a saviour of forests,” while at the same time undermining the protection of nature domestically.
Since taking office in May this year, chancellor Friedrich Merz has pushed for weakening the regulation meant to rein in deforestation in the supply chains of products sold in the EU as part of its promise to cut red tape. The economy ministry in September announced it would apply the law in a “restrained and business-friendly” way.
“As long as the German government slows down nature restoration in its own country and fights against deforestation-free supply chains in Europe, Germany's funding commitment to the rainforest fund is only a fig leaf,” said Verlinden.
