By Gerelyn Terzo, Global AgInvesting Media
China is signaling support for a Brazil-led initiative designed to protect tropical forests, a move that could shake up the way climate finance gets done on the world stage. According to a report in Reuters, Chinese Finance Minister Lan Fo’an recently revealed Beijing’s backing for the effort during a meeting with Brazil’s finance chief Fernando Haddad. While the support isn’t expected to become official until November, and China has yet to put a dollar figure behind it, the nation’s interest alone with its massive economy gives the initiative a major credibility boost.
The program involved is the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, or TFFF, a fund Brazil introduced at the COP28 climate summit last year. The idea is to raise $125 billion from a combination of governments and private investors to pay countries for conserving tropical forests, flipping the script on deforestation by tying a financial reward to preservation.
TFFF is designed to realign the financial incentives around forest conservation. The fund proposes to compensate developing nations for every hectare of tropical forest they preserve, while imposing penalties for land that is deforested or degraded. Payments are funded through returns generated from capital invested in green assets, creating a sustainable financial cycle aimed at keeping forests intact. Beyond preserving tree cover, the project also commits resources to safeguarding biodiversity, protecting Indigenous territories and maintaining vital ecosystem services.
This means nations would be compensated based on the size of forested land they keep intact. It’s a way of aligning economic incentives with environmental goals, especially for forest-rich countries under pressure from agriculture, mining and other forms of land conversion.
So far, the fund has drawn interest from a range of nations, including the U.K., France, Germany, Norway, Singapore and the UAE. But China’s potential involvement is catching extra attention. Not only is it the world’s second-largest economy, but its support could mark the beginning of a trend in which other emerging markets to step up as climate finance players, not just recipients. As one Brazilian government source told Reuters, “If the Chinese confirm that they will contribute to the fund, it will be a milestone.”
The timing is also notable. Brazil is set to host COP30 in November, this time in the heart of the Amazon in the city of Belém. Forest preservation is expected to be front and center, and TFFF could become one of the summit’s biggest attractions.
For stakeholders in global agriculture and forestry, China’s endorsement could help validate a new model for funding conservation. If enough countries get on board, TFFF could shift how the world values natural capital, moving away from land as a short-term resource and toward forest cover as a long-term climate asset. It also reflects a broader trend: climate finance is becoming more blended, with both public and private sectors combining resources to address global challenges.
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