A new fund to protect the world’s rainforests, championed by Brazil, received a $3-billion boost from Norway at a COP30 leaders’ summit, but remains far off its goal of winning $25 billion in startup capital from donor governments.
The Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), launched today at a high-level event on the sidelines of the COP30 Belém Climate Summit, has gathered support from rainforest countries, which Brazilian officials said is crucial for its success, but has fallen short of hopes for early contributions to get it up and running.
The largest investment announced at the fund’s launch came from Norway, which pledged 30 billion krone ($3 billion) to the TFFF in the form of loans over 10 years, providing certain conditions are met.
Smaller pledges were also announced by Colombia ($250 million), Netherlands ($5 million for the TFFF’s secretariat) and Portugal ($1 million). The UK, one of the TFFF’s initial supporters that has been involved in its design, said it would not provide taxpayers’ money for the initiative.
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Brazil was the first country to pledge $1 billion to the fund, followed by Indonesia which announced it would match Brazil’s initial contribution. In October, the World Bank confirmed it will serve as interim host and trustee for the fund, which the bank’s CEO Ajay Banga said would allow beneficiary countries and donors to “focus on delivery”.
“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 Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
Unlike other investors, Norway has set out a series of conditions for its loans, adding pressure for the TFFF to find more financial backers. For example, the country requires that “at least NOK 100 billion ($9.8 billion) must have been secured from other donors by 2026”, adding that “Norway is not to provide more than 20% of the (fund’s) total amount”.
It also said the TFFF’s funding model “must be sustainable and maintain an acceptable level of risk”. Some critics say the fund’s strategy of investing in emerging market bonds would be too risky and would fail to deliver the expected results.
Toerris Jaeger, director of Rainforest Foundation Norway, celebrated the Scandinavian country’s announcement and said the pledge “is a substantial commitment to the rainforest and for our planet to remain habitable”.
Germany will announce its commitment to the TFFF when its chancellor speaks at the summit on Friday.
“Unprecedented” initiative
Speaking at the fund’s launch on Thursday, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva described it as “an unprecedented initiative”, adding that “for the first time, Global South countries will have protagonism in the forest agenda”.
The president said current climate funds “do not live up to the challenge posed by climate change”, which had motivated Brazil to assemble a group of countries and design an alternative. The UN estimates that forest protection is severely underfunded, with an annual gap of $216 billion.
“The TFFF is not based on donations. Its role will be to complement the mechanisms that pay for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions,” Lula told a roundtable of world leaders that included UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro.
“The TFFF will be one of the main concrete results in the spirit of implementation of COP30,” he added, although the fund is not an instrument that has been set up under the UN climate talks.
The launch of the fund is a “hugely important step”, according to UN climate chief Simon Stiell, noting that the TFFF “creates long-term, predictable support for the countries and communities who protect them”. According to the fund’s design, 20% of all payments must be allocated to indigenous people and local communities.
“Progress is happening, but it has to move faster and benefit more nations. That means closing the finance gap, strengthening monitoring and restoration, and ensuring support reaches Indigenous Peoples and local communities,” Stiell said in a statement.
“If we succeed, we can make forests stand forever, as pillars of climate stability and human prosperity,” he added.
What is the TFFF?
The TFFF is designed to become a blended finance instrument that will invest in financial markets and pay a share of the returns to tropical countries that are protecting their rainforests.
The fund’s concept note proposes startup capital of $125 billion – $25bn coming from governments and $100bn from private investors like pension funds and asset managers. In theory this would allow the fund to pay forest countries about $4 per hectare per year, disbursing a total of $2.8 billion for rainforests every year.
As the TFFF is not a negotiated outcome at COP30, donors to the fund are not subject to the same responsibilities that govern the UN climate negotiations where the onus falls on developed countries. Experts say this could help bring on board wealthier developing countries like China and the Gulf states, which would otherwise shy away from assuming donor-country responsibilities.
TFFF payments are designed to be directed at tropical countries that can show results in reducing deforestation. Of the 74 eligible countries, only about 20 would meet the TFFF criteria if it was active today, according to online tracking platform TFFF Watch.
Torbjørn Gjefsen, international forest finance advisor at the Rainforest Foundation Norway, told Climate Home that “results-based payments” from the TFFF will be an innovative way to protect large, intact primary forests, which currently struggle to access other forms of forest finance.
Mirela Sandrini, interim executive director of WRI Brasil, said broad backing for the new fund from almost 50 countries “marks an important start… reflecting growing recognition of the need for collective action to protect and restore tropical forests”.
“However, the pool of those that have actually committed funding so far remains limited. Broader support will be essential if the facility is to become fully operational,” she added.
This story was edited to include comments by UNFCCC executive secretary Simon Stiell.
The post Norway pledges $3bn in boost for Brazil-led tropical forest fund appeared first on Climate Home News.
Norway pledges $3bn in boost for Brazil-led tropical forest fund
Climate Change
Greenpeace delivers 47 metre-long petition with half a million signatures to Woodside HQ following major gas protest
Greenpeace delivers 47 metre-long petition with half a million signatures to Woodside HQ following major gas protest
PERTH, Monday 19 October 2026 — Dozens of Perth community members delivered a giant petition, signed by almost half a million people, to Woodside’s corporate headquarters this morning, calling on the government to save Scott Reef from Woodside’s reckless Browse gas proposal.
Dressed in sea creature costumes and hats, supporters carried one of Australia’s biggest environmental petitions to Woodside’s headquarters, and a local choir performed a ‘Scott Reef’ rendition of Angie McMahon’s iconic cover of ‘Reckless’ by Australian Crawl.
On the sidelines of the Perth Global Citizen Now event, it comes following a two day-long protest at Woodside’s Scarborough gas platform that saw activists scale and occupy the Floating Production Unit calling to “Stop Woodside’s Dirty Gas” and “Save Scott Reef”. The activists were taken from the platform by police helicopter on Sunday afternoon.
David Ritter, CEO at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “Less than a day after two Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists were arrested for their peaceful protest at Woodside’s Scarborough gas platform to save Scott Reef, we are here again with another message to Woodside: half a million of us do not want your dirty gas at Scott Reef.
“Community pressure on Woodside is rising. Today we are here to show Woodside that they can’t ignore half a million people who want Scott Reef protected, not turned into an industrialised gas zone.
“Woodside can’t be trusted with our oceans. Woodside’s plans to drill up to 57 toxic wells at Scott Reef, Australia’s largest oceanic reef, putting endangered pygmy blue whales at risk, and jeopardising a nesting ground for unique green sea turtles.
“We Australians love our oceans and this is an opportunity for our governments to do the right thing, to reject Woodside’s reckless drilling plans, and save Scott Reef.”
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Media contact
Kate O’Callaghan on +61 406 231 892 or Emma Sangalli on +61 431 513 465
Climate Change
Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists in police custody after two-day protest against Woodside’s Browse gas project at Scott Reef
PERTH, Sunday 18 October 2026 — Two Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists are in police custody after occupying a gas platform at Woodside’s Scarborough gas project, in peaceful protest of the fossil fuel corporation’s plans to drill for oil and gas at Scott Reef.
NEW footage and photos of the peaceful protest available here and on Instagram
The activists used specialised climbing equipment to scale and attach themselves to a Floating Production Unit (FPU), a key piece of gas processing infrastructure at the Scarborough gas field over 200km off the coast of Exmouth, at around 05:45am AWST on Saturday and proceeded to occupy the platform for two days, displaying banners reading “Stop Woodside’s Dirty Gas. Save Scott Reef.”
Special police forces landed a helicopter on the FPU at around 11:30am AWST. The activists safely removed themselves from their equipment before being taken into police custody around 1:00pm AWST. At the time of writing, no charges have been laid.
David Ritter, CEO at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “It takes guts and conviction to do what our activists have done, peacefully protesting Woodside’s reckless gas plans at Scott Reef.
“Woodside’s plans to drill up to 57 toxic wells at Scott Reef are outrageous. If allowed to go ahead Woodside would turn Scott Reef, Australia’s largest oceanic reef, home to nesting green sea turtles and elusive pygmy blue whales, into an industrial gas zone. Around half a million people have called on our governments to stop Woodside and to save Scott Reef.
“Our activists are highly trained and experienced in these activities. West Australia has a proud history of peaceful, democratic protest at sea, to protect our oceans from environmental threats. From whaling in Albany in the seventies, to Woodside’s threat to Scott Reef today, there’s more than fifty years of history, of Greenpeace taking action off WA’s coast to protect the places we love.
“Peaceful protest has long been part of what has given us so many of the things that are great about Australia and is part of the fabric of our democracy and our national identity.”
“The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to a healthy democracy. From Australia to the Arctic and the Amazon, Greenpeace has been peacefully protesting for more than 50 years to expose the biggest environmental threats around the world. We will not be silenced by corporations like Woodside who actively try to stop everyday people from speaking out against their reckless plans.
“Woodside’s reckless proposal to drill at Scott Reef is an unacceptable risk to Scott Reef and to the climate, which our government should emphatically reject.”
Speaking from the Rainbow Warrior, Captain of the Rainbow Warrior Hettie Geenen, said:
“It felt powerful watching from the Rainbow Warrior as these brave activists scaled Woodside’s enormous and imposing gas infrastructure, which has no place at Scott Reef. We are all out here because we feel an urge to act, in the face of Woodside’s grave threat to Scott Reef and to our climate. Now we ask for the Australian government to act too, and reject Woodside’s reckless Browse project.
“Just before this peaceful protest, the Rainbow Warrior sailed to Scott Reef, where our whole crew got to witness the magic of an untouched, healthy reef ecosystem full of marine life. It was my second time visiting Scott Reef with the Rainbow Warrior. When you see Scott Reef up close and witness its magic first hand, it is impossible not to feel driven to try and protect it.”
The activists sailed to Scarborough on the Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace’s flagship vessel, which is in the region campaigning to protect Australia’s oceans, including Scott Reef.
-ENDS-
Media contact
Greenpeace Australia Pacific media team in Perth on +61 406 231 892 or +61 407 581 404 or email media.au@greenpeace.org
Climate Change
GREENPEACE GAS PROTEST DAY TWO: Activists spend first night on Woodside’s Scarborough gas platform, “in this for the long haul”
- NEW footage and photos available here and on Instagram – more being uploaded today.
- Interviews available with campaigners on board the Rainbow Warrior on request.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists have slept overnight on Woodside’s Floating Production Unit and dropped a massive 12×14-metre banner reading “Stop Woodside’s Dirty Gas. Save Scott Reef”.
Two activists have set up temporary hanging tents on the South East pillar, while the other two returned to the Rainbow Warrior late yesterday afternoon, after fulfilling their initial role. The activists will occupy the platform for as long as possible.
The environmental advocacy group is peacefully protesting Woodside’s plans to drill for oil and gas at Scott Reef as part of its Browse proposal.
Sakyo Noda, one of the Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists, said: “As a Japanese person living in Australia, I feel incredibly passionate about stopping Australia’s gas exports to Asia.
“Despite what the gas industry tells us, Australia’s gas is not helping to decarbonise Asia. It is simply not true. We shouldn’t be allowing fossil fuel companies like Woodside to extract new fossil fuels, let alone at extraordinary places like Scott Reef”.
Aboard the Rainbow Warrior, Geoff Bice, WA Campaign Lead at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, added, “Everyone is in good spirits. We’re in it for the long haul.”
Links:
Photos and video of Scott Reef here
Audio and footage of yesterday’s press conference here
Content and live updates will be uploaded to a live blog and Instagram
In-person interviews in Perth with David Ritter, CEO of Greenpeace Australia Pacific, can be organised. Dial-in, SimSat and Zoom interviews with Geoff Bice, WA Campaign Lead at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, currently aboard the Rainbow Warrior, can be organised.
Greenpeace delivers 47 metre-long petition with half a million signatures to Woodside HQ following major gas protest
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Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists in police custody after two-day protest against Woodside’s Browse gas project at Scott Reef
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