A $5.5 billion question hangs over the Belem climate summit: can Brazil’s new forest fund succeed without the participation of the world’s superpowers? President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won $5.5 billion in pledges for his plan, but the absence of the US and China threatens to undermine it.
Lula’s “Tropical Forests Forever Facility” is an innovative plan to use interest-bearing loans to pay 74 developing nations to protect their rainforests. It’s a bold move to make preservation profitable, backed by a $3 billion pledge from Norway.
The plan is designed to be a global solution to a global problem. These forests are vital carbon sinks that benefit the entire planet. The summit’s location in the Amazon underscores this critical role.
However, the leaders of the planet’s three biggest polluters—the United States, China, and India—all skipped the preliminary gathering. This “reduced participation” reveals a stark lack of unity and commitment from the very nations most responsible for emissions.
The UN Secretary-General has labeled this a “moral failure” driven by “fossil fuel interests.” Lula’s challenge is to build a coalition of the willing, led by nations like Norway and Germany, that is powerful enough to succeed even if the world’s biggest players remain on the sidelines.