Norwegian government proposes up to $3 billion in loans across 10 years to an international fund designed to safeguard the world’s tropical forests
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A new fund designed to protect the world’s rainforests – a project championed by Brazil – received a $3billion boost from Norway ahead of COP30.
The fund, known as the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) has been endorsed by 34 rainforest countries so far. Now, Norway has become the largest investor, pledging 30 billion krone ($3billion) in loans across the next ten years, provided certain conditions are met.
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Designed to reward countries for keeping their forests standing, TFFF – spearheaded by Brazil – uses satellite monitoring standards and systems to oversee tropical nations’ forests. In turn, participating nations can receive funding per hectare of viable forest they maintain, with payments decreasing if any deforestation or fire-related forest degradation occurs.
‘Protecting tropical forests is an investment in our common future,’ said Minister of Climate and Environment Andreas Bjelland Eriksen. ‘This fund will help to protect vulnerable ecosystems that are needed to mitigate the global climate and nature crisis. We hope that more countries will also contribute funding.’
Brazil and Indonesia have each contributed $1 billion to the fund. The Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said he believes $10 billion in public money is an ‘ambitious but achievable target’ for the first year of the fund.
Smaller pledges for TFFF have been announced by Colombia ($250 million), the Netherlands ($ million) and Portugal ($1 million). France has also expressed interest in the fund, indicating it would consider committing up to $578 million across the next five years. The UK, an early supporter of TFFF, has announced it will not provide taxpayers’ money for the fund.
Eventually, in the long term, TFFF is intended to become self-sustaining and not require future contributions.
‘The new Tropical Forest Forever Facility can provide stable, long-term funding to relevant countries. It is important for Norway to support this initiative,’ said Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
Norway’s history of donating
For more than fifteen years, Norway has been one of the largest donors of funding to rainforest conservation around the world. Back in 2007, the nation pledged to allocate up to NOK3 billion per year from its aid budget for programmes that reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
Its first major, country-level commitment was a billion-dollar pledge to Brazil. Following that, Norway has since expanded its agreements and donations to countries such as Guyana, Indonesia and Liberia.
Most recently, in 2024, the nation provided $60million USD to support Brazil’s Amazon Fund, an initiative that sees funding disbursed to participating nations after deforestation has been reduced. This funding is then used to support measures designed to further reduce deforestation.
