Unlocking Climate Finance through Forests: Brazil, BRICS, and the Road to COP30
By Lycia Brasil*
In a world shaped by geopolitical tensions, structural inequalities, and accelerating environmental degradation, the climate crisis is advancing, alongside the urgent need for effective solutions. While technical options are widely known, their global implementation is hindered by a persistent financing gap. One of the most critical shortfalls lies exactly where some of the most promising climate solutions exist: tropical forests.
The BRICS, currently composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Indonesia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, brings together many of the world’s most biodiverse countries. Collectively, they hold around 43% of global forests and 42.8% of forest growth stock. Despite internal diversity, the group faces shared challenges and opportunities in forest-related ecosystem conservation, sustainable land management, and strategic use of natural capital.
Although there is not yet a consolidated estimate for the expanded BRICS, global data already point to the group’s immense potential in advancing Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) and Nature-based Solutions (NbS). Brazil and Indonesia alone account for more than 40% of global NCS mitigation potential, equivalent to 2.7 billion tons of CO₂ per year. Brazil represents about 15% of this total, two-thirds of which stem from avoided deforestation. Indonesia offers a comparable share, with strong contributions from forest and wetland preservation. India accounts for about 4%, with notable efforts in forest restoration and regenerative agriculture. In recent years, China has also emerged as a major hub for afforestation solutions through initiatives like the Great Green Wall.
Yet, forest finance remains woefully inadequate. Just USD 2.2 billion is invested annually in forest-related mitigation and adaptation, less than 1% of what is needed by 2050. This is striking, considering that each ton of CO₂ avoided or removed via forest action generates an estimated USD 100–250 in environmental and economic value.
In this context, recent BRICS initiatives under Brazil’s 2025 presidency have gained unprecedented relevance. For the first time, financing for forest conservation has been formally incorporated into the bloc’s official documents. At the 11th Meeting of Environment Ministers, this year, BRICS formally endorsed the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), a Brazilian-proposed mechanism designed to attract private investment through a financial model that rewards countries for preserving forests. The work plan, approved at the BRICS Disaster Management Ministerial meeting this year, outlined strategic goals to mainstream NbS into BRICS policy frameworks and develop scalable climate finance models. The foreign ministers’ declaration reinforced political support for the TFFF and the valuation of ecosystem services, stressing the need for accessible and effective financial instruments for the Global South. The initiative United for Our Forests, also led by Brazil, was highlighted as a platform for advancing global efforts related to conserving, managing, and restoring vital tropical ecosystems as well.
Complementary actions include the BRICS Partnership for Land Restoration, which promotes exchanges on recovery of degraded areas and sustainable agriculture. Additionally, the 9th BRICS Industry Ministers’ Meeting also held in 2025, pledged to improve resource efficiency and advance circular economy practices. While not exclusively about forests, these initiatives impact forest conservation by shaping production systems and supply chains.
Despite this progress, BRICS still lacks a robust institutional framework for forest governance. There is no permanent technical body, shared targets, or coordinated funding strategy. Existing efforts remain fragmented and vulnerable to political cycles.
Here, the New Development Bank (NDB) has the potential to play a transformative role. Although 40% of its current portfolio is classified as green, the bank still lacks dedicated instruments for forest conservation or the bioeconomy. Since 2015, it has allocated USD 2.4 billion to climate-related projects, more than any other multilateral bank to national development institutions. However, to expand its impact, the NDB must reposition itself as a mission-driven institution, focused on enabling ecological transitions across the Global South, including through promoting NbS.
This will involve boosting technical capacity, building local partnerships, and integrating tools like the TFFF into its architecture. Innovative financial instruments such as green and sustainable development bonds, debt-for-nature swaps, and payments for ecosystem services offer viable pathways. Institutions like the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), through its Amazonia Forever initiative, have shown that conservation, finance, and sustainable development can work hand in hand.
The forest agenda presents a unique opportunity for political convergence within BRICS. It connects domestic priorities such as water, food, and energy security, with international commitments on climate and biodiversity, and does so with relatively low political polarization compared to issues like transition away from fossil fuels or alternative payment systems. It is an agenda focused on implementation, with strong potential for cooperation among member states.
COP30, to be held for the first time in the Amazon, offers a symbolic and strategic opportunity to elevate the role of nature in global climate negotiations and the role of both climate and nature within BRICS. Brazil’s COP30 presidency has consistently signaled its ambitions: across four official letters, it has emphasized forest protection, called for an end to deforestation by 2030, and positioned forest governance as a pillar of the COP30 Action Agenda. These messages reflect growing political ambition, portraying forests not just as environmental assets, but as foundations for international climate cooperation.
This vision aligns with Brazil’s current efforts at home to include the NbS and the bioeconomy (including forest-related) as a central pillar of its Ecological Transformation Plan, as well as with the country’s leadership of the BRICS in 2025, under the theme “Strengthening Global South Cooperation for More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance, through which Brazil hopes to secure to a more coordinated and ambitious position at COP30, reaffirming its legitimacy as a collective voice of the Global South. In this dual role—as COP30 host and BRICS president—Brazil is uniquely positioned to help build consensus on climate finance, with tropical forests emerging as a powerful axis for cooperation.
By aligning national strategies with multilateral processes, Brazil can transform its natural capital into a diplomatic, economic, and climate leadership asset. Strengthening the forest agenda within BRICS and consolidating it at COP30 will be essential to turning commitments into action and to reaffirming the role of tropical forests as vital infrastructure for the planet’s future.
*Lycia Brasil works as an international cooperation advisor at the Igarapé Institute and holds a master’s in Environmental Management and Policy.
