Belém, Brazil – November 10, 2025
As world leaders gather in Belém for COP30, Rainforest Action Network (RAN) warns that the newly launched Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) could fall short of its ambitions unless governments act decisively to curb the financial drivers of deforestation.
“The TFFF’s promise to mobilize large-scale finance for forest protection and direct funds to Indigenous Peoples and local communities is welcome—but it cannot succeed while banks and investors remain free to bankroll deforestation,” said Tom Picken, Forests and Finance Director at Rainforest Action Network. “Without strong regulation to stop the flow of finance to destructive industries, the TFFF risks becoming yet another well-meaning mechanism trapped in a broken system.”
Since the Paris Agreement was signed, banks have provided over $429 billion to companies driving deforestation, land grabbing, and human rights abuses—a 35 percent increase—while global investors expanded their stakes in those sectors by another $8 billion to their current $42 billion in equity. Over the same period, the planet lost more than 6.7 million hectares of primary rainforest in 2024 alone, roughly the size of Ireland.
The TFFF’s financing arm—the Tropical Forest Investment Fund (TFIF)—intends to raise and invest money through public and corporate bonds. RAN warns that this approach could inadvertently tie forest protection to debt repayments and extractive markets, echoing the failures of past “green” financial instruments such as carbon offset schemes.
“We cannot keep relying on complex financial products to solve crises created by those very markets,” said Picken. “The TFFF, as designed, lacks binding rules to prevent deforestation-linked investments and fails to give Indigenous and local communities real decision-making power. It’s another fund built on voluntary promises when what’s needed are enforceable laws.”
According to RAN, the TFFF initiative falls short in several key areas:
- No legal safeguards to prevent the TFIF from investing in deforestation-linked assets.
- Insufficient governance power for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, despite their proven record as forest guardians.
- Absence of a grievance mechanism to hold investors accountable for harm.
- Reliance on volatile financial markets and debt instruments to generate returns, creating perverse incentives that could undermine forest protection.
RAN further notes that the TFFF operates outside the framework of the United Nations climate process, weakening oversight and accountability.
“Governments backing the TFFF must take responsibility for the role their own financial institutions play in fueling deforestation,” said Picken. “Real progress depends on making it illegal for banks and investors to finance deforestation and human rights abuses, not on creating another fund that leaves the same loopholes intact.”
While Rainforest Action Network recognizes Brazil’s leadership in placing forests back at the center of the global climate agenda, the organization stressed that intent must be matched with integrity. The group calls for:
- Binding regulation to end deforestation financing.
- Strict investment criteria and transparency on any funding mechanism for forests
- Full and equitable participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in all decision-making processes.
“The world can’t trade its way out of ecological collapse,” said Picken. “If COP30 is to mark a turning point, governments must finally rein in banks and investors by preventing their financial sectors from bankrolling deforestation with impunity.”