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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Jalisco’s Path to High-Integrity Jurisdictional Climate Finance: A Model for Climate Action and Territorial Justice

By Edgar Godoy / Published: June 19, 2025
Cloudy forest in Jalisco, Mexico

Clouds partially cover a forest in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. Photo by Edgar Godoy.

This post was authored by Edgar Godoy, Associate Vice President for Jurisdictional Alliances, and Paola Bauche, Secretary of Environment and Territorial Development, State of Jalisco, Mexico.

As the urgency of the climate crisis intensifies, jurisdictional REDD+ approaches have emerged as a scalable, equitable, and results-based solution for tackling deforestation and forest degradation. In Mexico, the State of Jalisco stands out as a subnational leader, having developed and begun implementing a jurisdictional REDD+ model rooted in long-term vision, institutional strength, and a strong commitment to forest communities’ rights. In its role as strategic partner to the Government of Jalisco, Environmental Defense Fund has been providing targeted technical assistance, supporting the development of emissions baselines and safeguard frameworks, and bolstering Jalisco’s alignment with international best practices in high-integrity carbon markets.

With over 4 million hectares of forest cover, representing more than 50% of its territory, Jalisco’s forests are critical for biodiversity conservation, climate regulation, and the livelihoods of hundreds of communal land communities, called ejidos, and Indigenous communities. The state’s REDD+ Strategy, developed through inclusive, participatory processes, links forest conservation, restoration, land-use planning, and sustainable rural development. It aligns with Mexico’s national REDD+ framework and the country’s commitments under the Paris Agreement.

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Also posted in Carbon Markets, Forest protection, Indigenous People, International, Mexico, Paris Agreement, REDD+ / Authors: / Comments are closed

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:

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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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The Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities’ Road to COP30 at Belém: An Outlook for 2025

By Bärbel Henneberger / Published: January 29, 2025

Kleber Karipuna, President of APIB and Coordinator of the Global Alliance, presenting strategies for effective participation at COP30. Photo by Bärbel Henneberger, EDF

By Bärbel Henneberger, Senior Partnerships Manager, Environmental Defense Fund

For Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC) organizations of the Americas, 2025 brings fresh expectations. For the first time, the UNFCCC COP30 will take place in the Amazon Basin,  hosted by the city of Belém, in the Brazilian state of Pará. This will present a unique opportunity to cast global attention to the challenges and potential solutions unfolding in the wider Amazon region.

For context, the Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, is also the largest and most vulnerable deforestation front. WWF estimates that 20 percent of its biome has been lost already, and that 27 percent will be without trees by 2030 if the current rate of forest loss continues. For IPLCs, the forest is the home that sustains all life.

Last week, during a workshop on Indigenous economy, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC) organizations from South and Meso America met in the Ecuadorian Amazon to discuss the state of tropical forests and the role of IPLC´s sustainable initiatives. Despite all efforts, illegal timber and gold mining are still powerful drivers of deforestation and the destruction of entire landscapes in the Amazon. However, a call was made for the sustainable use of Nature, and concrete examples were presented of the actions that should be implemented to ensure sustainable forest management. IPLC organizations also agreed that Indigenous bioeconomy will be a key topic to be presented at COP30.

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