The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, announced this Wednesday (19), in Belém, that the German government confirmed a contribution of 1 billion euros to the Tropical Forests Forever Fund (TFFF). 
The value had been awaited since last week, when the chancellor of the European country, Friedrich Merz, who participated in the Climate Summit in the capital of Pará, committed to a “considerable” amount for the financial instrument launched by Brazil to capture resources that pay for the maintenance of forests standing.
“We were delighted that Germany announced its contribution (…) in the order of 1 billion euros to the TFFF, thanks to all the effort that has been made, demonstrating that, in fact, this global financing instrument is very well designed, very well structured and is beginning to provide answers”, said the minister, in a statement to the press, alongside President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
With this, the total value already promised to the TFFF exceeds US$ 6.5 billion.
The TFFF will combine public and private investment and foresees that the resources will be transferred to countries with tropical forests, so that they can work to preserve these areas.
THE The proposal is to raise US$25 billion in public resources from investing countries. Therefore, it is expected that the contribution will be an attraction to leverage capital from the private sector and, with this, gather US$ 125 billion to be invested in the conservation of tropical forests.
Lula at COP30 and fossil fuels
The president spent the day in Belém, meeting with different negotiating groups at the 30th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP30), to unlock negotiations around agreements on climate adaptation, just transition and the development of a roadmap for reducing the consumption of fossil fuels – the main emitters of gases that cause the atmosphere to heat up, resulting in climate change that is affecting life on the planet.
Lula attended the opening ceremony at COP30, on November 10, and returned to the event two days before its end, in an effort to advance consensus on these topics.
“You came to open the COP, at the Summit [do Clima] and now, in this decisive phase. It is a demonstration of your commitment to one of the greatest challenges that humanity has had to face, which is the problem of climate change, especially looking at the most vulnerable”, highlighted Marina Silva.
In his statement to journalists, Lula commented on the expectation of approval of an agreement on the gradual elimination of fossil fuel consumption.
“We need to show, to society, that we want, without imposing anything on anyone, without setting a deadline, that each country is in charge of determining things that it can do, within its time and possibilities, but that we are serious. We need to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases”, he stated.
The president reinforced that country leaders need to understand that, without reflecting the people’s aspirations, democracy and multilateralism will lose credibility in society.
“The climate issue is no longer just an academic vision, it is no longer a vision of a dozen more intellectuals, of half a dozen environmentalists. The climate issue is a very serious thing that puts humanity at risk. That’s why we treat it very seriously”, he reinforced.
The president also highlighted the the need for rich countries to help poorer ones, with resources, technology transfer, and again asked multilateral banks to transform debt into investments in environmental protection.
“We need to convince people. Companies have to pay part of it, mining companies, people who earn a lot of money have to pay part of it,” he said.
After spending the day in Belém, Lula returned to Brasília.
The president travels to São Paulo this Thursday (20) and, the following day, leaves for the G20 Summit in South Africa.
