Climate 411

Financing Forest Conservation: Guiding Quality Forest Finance in the Baku to Belém Roadmap

By Zach Cohen and Mark Moroge / Published: July 22, 2025

Aerial view of a Costa Rican rainforest. Flickr/ Francisco Guerrero 2020

By Mark Moroge and Zach Cohen 

At this November’s UN Climate Conference in Belém, progress on climate finance will be measured not just in pledges, but in delivery – including for forests, which are critical to regulating the climate, sustaining biodiversity, and supporting millions of people. The driving question: how do we get more money to the people conserving critical ecosystems at the speed and scale needed to make a difference? 

Last year’s climate conference in Baku set an ambitious goal to mobilize $1.3 trillion by 2035 for developing countries. Over the coming months, countries will provide inputs on a ‘Baku to Belém Roadmap’, guiding public and private sectors to deliver on this target. While scaling climate finance is essential, so is ensuring its quality. Strengthening the affordability, accessibility, and effectiveness of climate funding must be priorities to catalyze transformative action. 

As the Baku to Belém Roadmap takes shape, these principles of quality cannot just be abstractions – they need to be translated within specific sectors and contexts. This is especially true for the forest sector, where stakeholders face underlying barriers to securing the financing they need, and where there are ripe opportunities to unlock new resources, from leveraging public money to catalyze private investment, to deploying innovative models like the Tropical Forests Forever Facility.  Read More »

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At the Financing for Development Conference, an opportunity to make climate and development finance go further

By Christopher Dekki and Zach Cohen / Published: June 27, 2025

The Fourth International Financing for Development Conference (FfD4) in Seville will convene critical discussions about how to reshape the global financial architecture in an era of converging crises. As we grapple with persistent development challenges and the escalating impacts of climate change, this conference presents a vital moment to re-evaluate how climate and development finance intersect.  Read More »

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Bonn 2025: Charting the Path to COP30 and Enhanced Climate Action

By Sarah Swain and Zach Cohen / Published: June 12, 2025

2025 June Climate Meetings. UNFCCC/ Amira Grotendiek

Next week, the international climate community will convene in Bonn for the 62nd session of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies (June 16-26, 2025), or SB62. SB62 marks a critical milestone on the road to COP30 in Belém, Brazil, shaping the preparation and setting the stage for the negotiations.  

The meetings in Bonn will be guided by a central principle set by COP30 Presidency: the idea of “global mutirão,” the power of collective action to achieve goals no single actor can accomplish alone. Brazil has launched this initiative to identify common ground across regions and sectors, finding areas of convergence that can drive ambitious climate action forward. The Presidency has underscored the urgent need for this collaborative approach, particularly at SB62, to rebuild the multilateral trust strained during COP29 and by widening geopolitical rifts.  

Answering the global call for climate action, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is putting the spirit of “mutirão” into practice. At its core, EDF’s “mutirão” is already in our DNA. We play a unique role working with partners and allies across society – from local communities, major companies, Indigenous Peoples, governments and more – to find the shared goals that lead to groundbreaking solutions. Embracing collaboration and partnership has led us to impactful wins for planet and people: from supporting Indigenous Peoples’ participation in UN spaces to conserve forests, to gathering national oil companies together under an ambitious goal to slash methane emissions. Our commitment to this inclusive approach is essential for rebuilding the global trust needed for swift, fair, and ambitious climate action that delivers.  

Here are the thematic issues and topics EDF will be actively engaged in during SB62:

Read More »

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Building Trust and Consensus at CBD COP16: A Breakthrough for Biodiversity Finance

By Annie Mark and Milloni Doshi / Published: March 3, 2025

COP16.2 plenary in Rome

This blog was authored by Milloni Doshi, Project Manager, Global Engagement and Partnerships and Annie Mark, Senior Director, Global Partnerships.

The 16th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP16) concluded in Rome with what is being hailed as a historic global finance plan to support the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, agreed at COP15 in 2022.  

The first of its kind in the biodiversity space, this financial plan was the subject of tense discussion and remained unresolved after the first session of COP16 in Cali, Colombia. Parties diverged on the funding mechanisms needed to mobilize at least 200 billion USD a year by 2030. Colombia’s COP President Susana Muhamad reconvened the Parties in Rome for a three-day sprint – referred to as COP16.2 – to resolve the outstanding issues from Cali.  

Amid the nuances of the text, EDF sees three key reasons for optimism, and three opportunities to strengthen this endeavor as we look ahead to COP17 and the 2030 targets.  Read More »

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Making Sense of the NCQG Outcome from COP29: A Critical but Insufficient Step Forward for Climate Finance

By Juan Pablo Hoffmaister / Published: December 23, 2024

The UN climate talks in Baku delivered a new agreement on climate finance (the New Collective Quantified Goal, or NCQG), but it falls short of what science and justice demand. The headline target — mobilizing $1.3 trillion annually by 2035, with developed countries providing $300 billion— is only a fraction of what’s needed. For context, developing countries require an estimated $5.1-6.8 trillion through 2030 alone to address the climate crisis. 

Achieving these targets requires immediate action, well before 2035. With climate impacts accelerating and vulnerable nations already facing severe challenges, we need to build momentum quickly toward and beyond these goals. The Baku agreement takes important steps in recognizing critical climate finance quality issues —such as high borrowing costs and limited access— and provides a framework for addressing them. The launch of the “Baku to Belém Roadmap” needs to be a pathway for making near-term progress, particularly on reducing the cost of capital and improving access to finance.  

The work didn’t end in Baku. As we look toward COP30, the international community faces a critical challenge: rapidly scaling up both the quantity and quality of climate finance to unlock urgent climate action. This will require immediate, concrete steps from developed nations, international financial institutions, and the private sector to deliver resources at the speed and scale the crisis demands. Success depends on rapidly translating these commitments into action through strengthened international cooperation and innovative financial solutions.  Read More »

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