search

14 November 2025

Press Release

For immediate release

Office: +44(0)1483 412383

Out of hours: +44(0)1483 412383

Email: jhaines@wwf.org.uk

WWF exposes £9.4 billion black hole in Amazon forest finance

  • WWF’s latest report has found a staggering black hole in funding to protect the Amazon rainforest in Brazil – one of Earth’s most critical ecosystems
  • WWF is calling for financial institutions in both the UK and Brazil to be stricter about who they lend to, to avoid financing forest destruction.
  • Forests are home to over half the Earth’s terrestrial biodiversity but are facing increasing threats including fires and deforestation  

With COP30 now underway in Brazil, new analysis from WWF reveals that a staggering £9.4 billion is urgently needed to keep its vital Amazon forest standing. The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest and is on the brink of reaching irreversible tipping points and escalating the climate crisis. 

While the funding gap may seem large, it is dwarfed by the estimated £237 billion* — calculated by the World Bank — of economic damage Brazil will face if the Amazon collapses.  

WWF’s ‘Closing the billion-dollar blackhole in forest finance’ study — published today (Nov 14) — conducted an in-depth analysis of financial flows in Brazil and Indonesia to understand where money is currently going, and how to redirect it. 

It found that destructive finance — such as loans and subsidies for farming on land that was deforested — vastly outweigh positive ones, by nearly eight times in Brazil. Positive finance, that protects forests, came mostly from the Brazilian government. The current flows represent just 5% of what is needed.  

The report calls for urgent action to stop the damaging flows, by bringing in stricter criteria for loans and subsidies and redirecting funding towards sustainable practices and compliance with environmental laws. 

Another key solution is investment in Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) - a fund proposed by the Brazilian government which recently garnered $5bn (nearly £4bn) in donations. However, the UK government recently announced it will not contribute. 

Kate Findlay, chief advisor on forests at WWF-UK, said: 

“Forests are at the forefront of the climate crisis, and the Amazon is on the brink of irreversible tipping points. 

“This report reveals the multi-billion-pound black hole in forest finance that we must urgently fill to prevent further destruction. Bridging this gap means cutting damaging funding flows, like loans and subsidies, and repurposing them for good. 

“Investing now is far cheaper than dealing with the fallout. The cost of inaction will be felt not just in Brazil but will have a ripple effect across the world.” 

Recent polling from WWF and Global Witness found Britons overwhelmingly support the British government’s commitment to halting and reversing deforestation by 2030, with 76 per cent in support. And almost two-thirds of Britons (65 per cent) supported the implementation of a TFFF-style fund. 

ENDS

  • £9.4 billion GBP/ $12.4 billion USD, is the difference between current beneficial funding, and how much WWF estimates what’s needed to keep the Brazilian Amazon standing.
  • The World Bank estimates that losing the Amazon would unleash $317 billion (£237 billion GBP) worth of economic damage on Brazil.
  • Finance flows that negatively affect forests are approximately 8 times larger than positive ones in the Brazilian Amazon, and 14 times larger in Indonesia.
  • In Brazil, negative flows are mainly in the form of loans and subsidies for agriculture and cattle ranching. In Indonesia, negative flows are mainly from loans for palm oil, pulp and paper.
  • Public finance, from the domestic government and Overseas Development Assistance (ODA), is the backbone of positive finance for forests in Brazil and Indonesia currently. Domestic government expenditure is larger than ODA in Brazil, while ODA is larger than domestic government expenditure in Indonesia.
  • Positive private financial flows play a significant role in Brazil, through instruments like green agricultural loans, carbon markets, green bonds, biodiversity offsets, sustainable forest certifications and philanthropy.
  • The gap between what is needed for forests and what they currently receive is $12.4bn USD in Brazil and $5.1bn USD in Indonesia. This is an estimate of what is needed to fulfil the government’s plans on conservation, enforcement, IPLCs, restoration and sustainable use.
  • The full study will be published on 14 November 2025, at: https://www.wwf.org.uk/articles/forest-finance