SIM welcomes growing investor support for the Tropical Forest Forever Facility and calls for capital to match

As a founding supporter of the Rotterdam TFFF Statement of Support, Sustainable Investment Management (SIM) urges funders to turn momentum into commitments

Sustainable Investment Management (SIM), a founding supporter of the Rotterdam TFFF Statement of Support, welcomes the growing backing for the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF). The statement, which SIM helped launch during London Climate Action Week in June 2026, is now endorsed by 34 organisations representing more than €10 trillion in assets, including 29 institutional investors and five supporting organisations. It was formally presented in Amsterdam on 15 October to representatives of the Dutch, Norwegian and Brazilian governments, at an investor gathering organised by the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation ahead of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP17).

The level of investor interest is encouraging, but it now needs to be matched by capital. As of October 2026, the TFFF has secured around US$7.3 billion in public pledges against a target of US$10 billion by the end of the year, a threshold to which Norway’s US$3 billion commitment is linked. This sponsorship capital is the foundation on which private investment depends. 

While the Rotterdam Statement is not itself a financial commitment, it shows that institutional investors are ready to engage once the facility reaches its initial capitalisation. Speaking to Reuters recently, SIM CEO Pedro Moura Costa highlighted the difficult international investment climate and the importance of ensuring investors are prepared to participate as soon as that milestone is reached.

“Since its inception, we have always believed that the TFFF could become a stable source of finance to protect tropical forests globally. It is now time to engage the private sector to leverage the initial financial commitments and bring it to a larger scale.” SIM CEO Pedro Moura Costa

The TFFF is a blended finance mechanism designed to reward tropical forest countries for keeping their forests standing. Rather than funding one-off projects, it works like an endowment: US$25 billion in public and philanthropic sponsorship capital is intended to attract a further US$100 billion from private investors, and the returns on this US$125 billion fund would provide predictable, long-term payments to countries that maintain their forests.

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Eligibility Criteria for Cerrado Programme 1

The following eligibility criteria are required for participation in the Responsible Commodities Facility for Cerrado Programme 1 (see full description here):

Land use

The area of cultivation must not have had any deforestation and conversion of native vegetation since 1 Jan 2020*. Preference will be given to areas converted from abandoned pasture land to soy cultivation after 2008.

Forest Code Compliance

Farm land must be registered with the Cadastro Ambiental Rural (CAR). The farm must contain and maintain areas of native vegetation equivalent to those required for Legal Reserve and Areas of Permanent Protection (APPs) determined by the Forest code or have formally adhered to a Programme of Environmental Regularization (PRA) established by the state environmental agency**. The farm area must not overlap with public protected areas, indigenous lands and other traditional people and community lands (including ‘quilombolas territories’).

Land title

Farmers must have unquestionable rights to use the land, be it as a land title or land lease agreement.

Legal Compliance

Farmers must demonstrate that they and their farms do not contravene any environmental or legal requirements, such as embargoes, environmental irregularities, contraventions of the labour legislation (including slave and child labour), and internationally-accepted rules for the use of agrochemicals.

*Farmers occasionally request the conversion of small areas of native vegetation to conduct farm improvements (building storage areas, water reservoirs, etc.). Provided that these areas are small and not for the purpose of expansion of the agricultural area, RCF analyses and considers them eligible. In order to do so, RCF uses the concept of Minimal Level (of deforestation or conversion) as defined by the Accountability Framework Initiative Terms and Definitions, which states “To be considered consistent with no-deforestation or no-conversion commitments, minimal levels must generally meet the following conditions: Not exceed cumulative thresholds that are small both in absolute terms (e.g., no more than a few hectares) and relative to the area in question (e.g., no more than a small proportion of the site).”

**The RCF analyses Forest Code compliance by looking at single farms (defined as the area covered by a CAR) or bundles of individual CARs that, in combination, result in the desired area of native vegetation put under the protective status of the RCF.  This bundling should not be understood as a means of compliance with the Forest Code requirements and is not intended to release the farmer of the regularization process committed under the Forest Code rules (enrolment in the CAR, engagement in a PRA, etc.). In order to differentiate its metrics from those of the Forest Code, the RCF refers to areas of Excess Native Vegetation (ENV) as opposed to Excess Legal Reserve, to avoid confusion with areas legally categorised under the Forest Code.