Norway Announces Co-Leadership Role with Brazil, Key Decision-Making Bodies Are Established, Meeting, and Advancing TFFF From Concept to Reality with Financial Support from Investor Countries
For Immediate Release: April 16, 2026
Since the successful launch of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility at COP30, the Brazil-originated initiative now comprises five major investor countries and $6.5 billion in announced contributions. Under the co-chair leadership of Brazil and Norway, rapid progress has been made toward creating two complementary and distinct entities—The Tropical Forest Forever Facility “TFFF” and the Tropical Forest Investment Fund “TFIF”—which together will comprise the global tropical forest finance mechanism and put it into operation.
On Thursday, as part of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings, representatives of partner countries convened in the Shihata Room at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., to announce key milestones in the process to build this novel and precedent-setting institution:
→ Partner countries established two critical decision-making bodies—The TFFF Interim Board and the TFIF Transition Committee—foundational governance structures that enable further progress.
The TFIF Transition Committee is co-chaired by Brazil and Norway, and includes investor countries France, Germany and Indonesia. Within the coming weeks, the Transition Committee will determine the jurisdiction where the TFIF will be legally incorporated, a decision that opens the door to putting in place permanent entity infrastructure. Once TFIF is legally incorporated, a permanent TFIF Board of Directors will be appointed, comprising experts in international finance and asset management.
The partner and investor countries are now focused on executing a comprehensive capitalization and resource mobilization strategy to reach the interim target of $10 billion in 2026 for the sponsor tranche, and aiming to reach $25 billion over the coming years. Including the senior tranche, the full capitalization goal is $125 billion.
The TFFF Interim Board, which is co-chaired by Brazil and Norway and includes the Democratic Republic of the Congo, France, Germany, Indonesia, and the Netherlands, aims to balance representation of investor countries and tropical forest countries, and will be in place through 2026. Its establishment is a critical step towards setting up a Secretariat, hosted by the World Bank, and the establishment of the permanent TFFF Board. The Secretariat will carry out the Board’s decisions, and manage the day-to-day operations of the TFFF.
While the TFFF governance structures are built, a global effort is underway among Tropical Forest Countries and Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities to put in place the legal, financial, and forest-monitoring infrastructure required to participate in the TFFF, and to receive, deploy, and track forest payments.
→ Both the TFFF Interim Board and the TFIF Transition Committee met this week in DC.
$30 million has been committed to support the work of the TFFF Interim Board and the TFIF Transition Committee. Funding comes from Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom. All the funds granted are managed by the World Bank, which acts as the Trustee and interim host of the TFFF Secretariat.
The TFFF Interim Board is developing its own governance charter, and advancing in the process to constitute the TFFF within the World Bank as a Financial Intermediary Fund.
The progress made to date is evidence of the conviction and commitment of countries that understand that protecting tropical forests is a life-sustaining investment and critical for the stability of the global economy.
Mr. Dario Durigan, Minister of Finance of Brazil
“The Tropical Forest Forever Facility represents a new chapter in global economic partnership—one built on the recognition that our economies are deeply interconnected, and that protecting the natural systems that uphold them is a shared responsibility. Brazil is proud to collaborate with global partners to build an innovative financial mechanism that will fund the conservation of our most precious terrestrial ecosystem through shared investment rather than direct grants.”
Mr. Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, Minister of Climate and Environment of Norway
“To contribute to the protection of tropical forests is Norway’s most effective climate and nature effort internationally. I am happy to announce that we, together with Brazil, will co-lead this new initiative.”
Ms. Reem Alabali Radovan, Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany
“Protecting tropical forests is one of the smartest investments we, as a global community, can make into our shared future. Because tropical forests secure our livelihoods. The TFFF is proof that a new kind of international cooperation is possible: one that bridges the public and private sectors, that connects finance with nature, and delivers tangible benefits for Indigenous Peoples and local communities as stewards of tropical forests. Germany is committed to the TFFF, not only because it is innovative, but because it is necessary.”
Ambassador Mauricio Carvalho Lyrio, Secretary for Climate, Energy and Environment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil
“At a time when the international community is being tested on many fronts, the TFFF is proof that countries can still come together around common goals. Its value lies not only in the long-term support it seeks to generate for standing forests, but also in showing that multilateralism can still produce concrete results.”
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