Great Britain will not contribute flagship fund of the world's remaining tropical forestswhich came as a bitter blow to the Brazilian hosts ahead of the Cop30 climate summit.
Keir Starmer flew to Belém, at the mouth of the Amazon, on Wednesday to attend a summit of world leaders hosted by Brazilian President Lula da Silva.
Key announcement for Brazil at Thursday's leaders' summit, which comes days before main UN climate summit Cop30will be the Rainforest Forever Foundation (TFFF).
The fund aims to raise $125 billion for governments and local communities that protect existing forests such as the Amazon and the Congo Basin. Lula hopes to raise $25 billion from public sources, which will involve mostly developed countries. KS30and the rest will come from the private sector and financial markets.
But he has had difficulty convincing cash-strapped governments, many of which are already cutting their aid budgets, to provide the money. Under Joe Biden, the US was seen as a possible contributor, but under President Donald Trump this will not happen.
The UK's decision will be a major disappointment as the UK has previously played a large role in stopping deforestation. “Brazilians are furious,” one source told the Guardian.
However, the Guardian understands that Downing Street may consider making a direct contribution to the fund in the future. The TFFF is currently considered to be at too early a stage and there are concerns about how it will work in practice. The UK contributed to the structure that provides financial support for the fund, but not directly to the fund itself, despite Brazil urging it to do so for months.
Norway is likely to remain steadfast in its commitment to the TFFF, but the Guardian understands that the German government may also be hesitant.
UK decision will be embarrassing Prince William, who is in Brazil to present the Earthshot Awardfor which TFFF is nominated.
Zac Goldsmith, a fellow Conservative and Boris Johnson's climate minister who led UK deforestation efforts at Cop26 2021 in Glasgow told the Guardian that Britain was making a mistake. “The UK helped create the fund by putting forests at the top of the agenda when we passed the COP. But this government seems only interested in one-dimensional carbon accounting and has just walked away,” he said.
Goldsmith believes TFFF is the best way to conserve endangered forests around the world. “There is finally a plan on the table to save the world's remaining rainforests on which we all ultimately depend. It does not require grants or aid. It is a fund with the first tranche provided as investment by governments and the rest – the vast majority – by the private sector,” he said.
“The fund will run indefinitely and will provide income to investors, as well as an annual income to those forest-growing countries that protect their forests. At a time of declining availability of funds and increasing destruction of huge forest basins, this is as close to a win-win as one can get.”
He accused the UK government of trying to persuade Germany not to invest, which the UK denies.
Green groups criticized the decision. Tanya Steele, chief executive of WWF UK, said: “Failure to invest in TFFF at this stage is a missed opportunity for the UK Government. TFFF is an innovative new financial mechanism that will quadruple the amount of money available to save the world's forests and ultimately strengthen our food security at a time when rising food prices are hitting UK shoppers.”
She added: “It is significant and worrying that the UK, as one of the richest countries in the world, has not announced investment comparable to that from less wealthy countries. We urge the Prime Minister to reconsider his decision and invest in TFFF after Cop30.”
Zoe Quiroz Cullen, director of climate and nature relations at conservation organization Fauna and Flora, said: “Helping Brazil shape the TFFF but then leaving others to pay upfront money for its launch is an abdication of leadership by the UK Government while others, including the global South, are stepping up.
“The irony and unfairness of this should not be lost. We need all the tools we can get to tackle the twin crises of climate and nature loss, and TFFF offers an additional way of channeling finance to protect the lungs of our planet while promising a financial return on investment.”
