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Development banks are checking out Brazil’s anti-deforestation effort — and considering whether to put their money on it.
Also in today’s edition: The Shockwave Foundation is betting on climate adaptation — and so is Kenya.
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Banks in the Amazon
Two major development banks — the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank — are eyeing investments in Brazil’s new $125 billion Tropical Forest Forever Facility, or TFFF, which pulled in $5.5 billion in pledges last week, writes reporter Jesse Chase-Lubitz from the sidelines of the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP30.
“TFFF is a remarkable plan and we hope it will be a success,” says Gianpiero Nacci, EBRD’s managing director for climate strategy and delivery. He adds that EBRD is “currently considering participation” and that “most of our new sub-Saharan member states are eligible.”
AIIB’s chief economist, Erik Berglöf, says his institution is “very supportive of the TFFF” but still “looking into it.” It’s “a structure we’ve never invested in before,” he notes, citing internal and legal reviews.
The fund — hosted at the World Bank and designed by Brazil — aims to raise $25 billion in public funds to unlock another $100 billion in private capital for forest protection. Governments have led the charge so far, but momentum is building: the European Investment Bank is in talks to join, and Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest pledged $10 million.
Norway, the biggest backer with $3 billion, has set tough conditions: It won’t disburse funds unless another $7.3 billion is committed by the end of 2026 — and its share stays under 20% of the initial pot.
Exclusive: EBRD and AIIB consider investing in Brazil's forest fund
Shock treatments
When the Shockwave Foundation launched in 2020, it did so with both urgency and patience — setting up a $50 million, 20-year spend-down fund focused solely on climate adaptation.
“Adaptation and resilience are dramatically underfunded,” said CEO Jeny Wegbreit during a recent Devex Pro Briefing. “When we began, almost no climate philanthropy was focused on adaptation, and even today, less than 7% of global climate financing supports it.”
From the start, Shockwave funded communities already living through climate impacts — floods, droughts, typhoons. “They’re current realities,” said Wegbreit. It backs regenerative agriculture and nature-based water systems across Africa and Latin America.
As a catalytic investor, Shockwave looks for scalable, early-stage projects others might avoid. “We make bold bets,” Wegbreit said, adding that its capital is “flexible and trust-based.” Partners decide how to use funds; the foundation avoids micromanagement. Transparency is key — it publishes its grants, portfolio, and due-diligence process. “We don’t want this to be a black box.”
The foundation starts with a one-year “get-to-know-you” grant, then builds multiyear partnerships.
With about $2 million in annual grants, Shockwave is small but cofunds with aligned donors. “It’s time to push more capital — not just our capital, but lots of other capital — into this space,” Wegbreit said. Even as traditional aid contracts, she remains hopeful: “We know that solutions are out there, the people that are doing the work. We just have to identify those people, fund them, and bring others in for the ride.”
Read: How one foundation is spending down on climate adaptation (Pro)
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Honoring a legacy
At a moving service at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., yesterday — complete with a “dog salute” of therapy dogs and stuffed monkeys in the pews — leaders and admirers celebrated conservationist Jane Goodall’s life and legacy.
The Jane Goodall Institute’s Anna Rathmann described her as the architect of an “ecosystem” of compassion and purpose. Former director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Francis Collins, reflected on her fearless fieldwork and faith in nature’s resilience. And actor Leonardo DiCaprio remembered her as a scientist and teacher who refused despair, believing “every voice matters.”
ICYMI: Jane Goodall, primatologist turned global environmental icon, dies at 91
Triple double
Kenya’s climate envoy Ali Mohamed is on a mission — and he’s not doing it alone. In what he calls a “ministerial partnership” with Germany’s Jochen Flasbarth, he’s working to secure agreement on the Global Goal on Adaptation indicators through a series of bilateral deals. “It’s important to first come to an agreement on the GGA so we can track progress,” he tells Jesse.
The real flashpoint, though, is money. Back at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, countries agreed to double adaptation finance. Now, Mohamed says, “we’re pushing to triple the doubling.” Not everyone’s thrilled. “It’s really a contentious issue,” he admits. “There is resistance and an argument that this should be figured out at the bilateral or national level rather than a global goal.”
According to Mohamed, negotiators are circling around $120 billion a year — part of the $300 billion outlined in the new collective quantified goal, or NCQG. But that still won’t cut it, he warns, without tapping private capital.
“It is important we are honest with ourselves and look at what is happening in the real world,” he says. “And therefore, we must be amenable and available to invite other sources of financing.”
Read more: COP30 reporters’ notebook — Day 3
Time’s up, shutdown
The U.S. House of Representatives voted yesterday to reopen the government, passing a stopgap funding bill through the end of January. While much of the tension around the bill was geared toward domestic issues, the final version includes a few development-related provisions worth paying attention to, my colleague Adva Saldinger tells me.
Some funding was appropriated to certain parts of the government for the whole year, including the Department of Agriculture, which includes $1.2 billion for the Food for Peace program and $240 million for the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program grants. That’s down from fiscal years 2024 and 2025.
Embedded in that part of the legislation is a requirement that the secretary of agriculture and secretary of state “conduct an interagency review” within 60 days to outline the process of transferring the Food for Peace program from USAID to the Department of Agriculture. The jury seems to be out on whether that's a good idea and if the Department of Agriculture has the capacity to run the program.
The continuing resolution funding bill also extends the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation’s authorization through the end of January, allowing it to continue operating as Congress works on a long-term extension. Additionally, it extends the tenure of the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s private sector board member through the end of 2026. MCC is required to have a private sector board member seated to have a quorum at its board meetings (the next one is in December), and Congress has been unable or unwilling to approve new board members in recent years.
Also in the bill? Approval for EBRD’s 2023 capital increase and $437 million to support it — something the multilateral development bank has been eagerly awaiting.
+ Catch up on all the latest news and analysis of the U.S. development sector.
In other news
While efforts continue in Belgium to save $9.7 million worth of stranded USAID contraceptives, authorities have confirmed that 20 truckloads of medical products were improperly stored, rendering some unusable. [New York Times]
South Africa’s Biovac has begun trials for the continent’s first fully homegrown cholera vaccine. [The Telegraph]
More than 20% of the population — nearly 25 million people — in the Democratic Republic of Congo face acute food insecurity, with the number expected to rise to nearly 27 million by 2026 amid escalating conflict. [Xinhua]
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About the author
Helen Murphy
Helen is an award-winning journalist and Senior Editor at Devex, where she edits coverage on global development in the Americas. Based in Colombia, she previously covered war, politics, financial markets, and general news for Reuters, where she headed the bureau, and for Bloomberg in Colombia and Argentina, where she witnessed the financial meltdown. She started her career in London as a reporter for Euromoney Publications before moving to Hong Kong to work for a daily newspaper.
