Despite pledges totalling USD 30.7 billion, annual funding for forest protection averages just USD 5.9 billion less than 5 per cent of what is required to meet global climate and biodiversity goals

Global finance for forest protection and restoration is falling dangerously short of what is needed to meet the 2030 climate and biodiversity goals. In recent years, as per the Forest Declaration Assessment 2025, international public finance for forests has averaged USD 5.9 billion per year, compared to the USD 117 – 299 billion required annually by 2030.

Despite an increase since the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use (GLD), current funding levels are still only a small fraction of what is needed to halt deforestation and restore degraded ecosystems.

Pledges Total USD 30.7 Billion, Half Disbursed
Following the GLD in 2021, several initiatives and pledges were declared to support forest protection and restoration between 2021 and 2025. Financing commitments from governments, philanthropy, financial institutions, businesses, and multistakeholder partnerships currently amount to USD 30.7 billion, of which USD 15.1 billion have so far been disbursed.

Key pledges include the Congo Basin Pledge (2021), the Global Forest Finance Pledge (2021), the IPLC Forest Tenure Pledge (2021), the Finance Sector Deforestation Action (FSDA) initiative, the Innovative Finance for the Amazon, Cerrado, and Chaco (IFACC) initiative, the Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition, the Forest, People, Climate (FPC) initiative, the Libreville Plan (2023), and Brazil’s inaugural investment commitment for the Tropical Forests Forever Fund (TFFF) (2025).

Financial Flows Still Misaligned With Forest Goals
The vast majority of global financial flows remain misaligned with global forest, biodiversity, and climate goals. At the same time, the same report highlighted that environmentally harmful agricultural subsidies – amounting to USD 409 billion per year – exceed green subsidies by more than 200 times.
In 2024, private finance continued to pour into forest-risk sectors, reaching USD 8.9 trillion, with limited safeguards in place. Only half of the assessed jurisdictions have even partially integrated forest risks into financial oversight.

Following the Glasgow Declaration, international public finance for forests more than tripled—from USD 1.7 billion annually in 2018–20 to USD 5.9 billion in 2022–24. However, this represents only 1.4 per cent of the USD 409 billion spent each year on environmentally harmful agricultural subsidies that drive deforestation and degradation.

Philanthropic donors committed an additional USD 1.3 billion to deforestation prevention and protection of climate-relevant landscapes from 2019–23. Yet recent budget cuts in key donor countries, combined with geopolitical uncertainty and a lack of new commitments, suggest that public funding is unlikely to increase significantly in the near future.

The international financial system remains a structural barrier to meeting 2030 forest goals, particularly in forest-rich but debt-strapped developing countries. In 2024, these countries had a total public debt of USD 31 trillion, paying USD 921 billion in net interest, 10 per cent more than in 2023. The median share of revenues spent on debt repayment reached 8 per cent, leaving less fiscal space for enforcing land-use laws or investing in restoration.

At the 16th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP16), countries acknowledged the link between debt, financial system rules, and biodiversity destruction. They called for the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and multilateral development banks (MDBs) to increase contributions, integrate biodiversity conventions into their activities, and enhance reporting on nature-related finance.

Bridgetown Initiative, UN Tax Convention Offer New Momentum
Developing countries are driving global efforts to reform financial governance through initiatives such as the Bridgetown Initiative and the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation.

The Bridgetown Initiative proposes reforms to the IMF and World Bank, including integrating climate and nature investments into debt frameworks and adding natural disaster clauses to sovereign credit agreements.

Separately, under the Brazilian G20 Presidency, a blueprint for an internationally coordinated minimum tax on ultra-high-net-worth individuals was proposed. A 2 per cent tax on global billionaires could generate USD 200–250 billion annually for participating countries.

The UN tax convention, led by African countries, aims to establish a more equitable global taxation system by 2027, potentially redirecting finance flows to forest protection and restoration.

The report highlighted emerging opportunities to redirect global finance toward forest protection through stronger financial oversight, sustainability standards such as those of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), and debt and tax reforms. Together, these measures could realign the global financial system and put capital flows on a sustainable path consistent with climate and biodiversity goals.