All eyes are on an upcoming meeting between German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as Germany is expected to pledge its support for a new global rainforest fund. This would add significant weight to the $5.5 billion in commitments already announced at the Belem climate summit.
The fund, named the “Tropical Forests Forever Facility,” is Lula’s flagship proposal. It aims to pay 74 developing nations to halt deforestation, a crucial step in absorbing global carbon emissions.
The initiative has already received a massive $3 billion pledge from Norway, the largest of the day. A strong commitment from Germany, another European economic powerhouse, would signal a powerful alliance behind Lula’s new conservation model.
This model is innovative, as it’s financed by interest-bearing debt from wealthy nations and investors, rather than aid. The goal is to make preservation a more lucrative long-term strategy for governments than the destructive industries of logging and mining.
Held in the Amazon, the summit has also made a strong commitment to social equity, with 20 percent of the new fund’s resources earmarked for Indigenous peoples. The potential German pledge adds to the positive momentum on a day otherwise marked by political divisions.