Pippa leads cross-party MP call on Keir to support Topical Forest Fund

MORE THAN 60 CROSS-PARTY MPs and Peers have joined forces to urge the Prime Minister to fight back against deforestation on the final day of COP30.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, MPs and Peers from across the political parties have called on the UK Government to use the momentum following COP30 as an opportunity to show a serious commitment to protecting the world’s forests and the communities and wildlife that depend on them.

The letter calls on the government to invest in the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), ringfence one-third of the International Climate Finance budget for nature, and enforce robust due diligence on products at home.

Those supporting the letter include Labour MP Olivia Blake, Chair of the newly formed Climate and Nature Crisis Caucus (CNCC); Conservative MP Blake Stephenson, Liberal Democrat MP Pippa Heylings; Vice-Chair of CNCC; and Green MP Carla Denyer, also a Vice-Chair of the caucus; alongside 63 other MPs and Peers.

The MPs underline the legacy of UK leadership on international action to limit deforestation, while recognising that the Government’s decision not to contribute immediately to the TFFF does not close the door on future involvement to the fund.

The TFFF is set to become one of the largest multilateral investment funds for nature and is set to reward countries that keep forests standing, strengthen local economies, and help communities on the front line of forest protection to thrive.

The letter urges the Prime Minister to engage with TFFF partners, such as Brazil, Norway, Indonesia, and France, and set out a roadmap for how the Government will support the fund financially, in order to provide certainty about the UK’s role in  this innovative mechanism.

It also argues that the fund must empower countries in the Global South to shape their own climate solutions by involving Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

The MPs say that UK leadership abroad must be matched by action at home and have called for products linked to illegal deforestation to be removed from UK shops so consumers can be confident their food choices are not driving forest loss.

Olivia Blake, Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam and Climate and Nature Crisis Caucus Chair, said:

“The UK has a proven record of international leadership on climate and nature, including tackling deforestation. And while some seek to dither and delay, the UK must not waver from this commitment. Now is the moment to double-down by investing in the tropical forest fund; unlocking a major win for nature protection and setting a path for others to follow.

“The Government has already helped to design the fund, ensuring we coordinate to safeguard the world’s remaining tropical forests. But falling short when it comes to investment in the fund could undermine progress; as history shows us that when the UK leads, others follow.”

Blake Stephenson, Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire, said:

“Conservatives believe deeply that we should conserve all that is good - including our environment.

It is clear just how important Britain’s past leadership and pragmatic partnership has been to countries around the world striving to tackle global environmental issues, including deforestation.

We have a proud history of leading the way and working multilaterally on the pressing issues of our day, and now is the time to step up, not back.

Together with a cross-party group of Parliamentarians, I encourage the Government to reaffirm Britain’s leadership to tackling deforestation, including by implementing at home the due diligence measures enacted by the previous Government, to ensure the British public can shop safely knowing that they are not contributing to illegal logging.”

Pippa Heylings, Liberal Democrat MP for South Cambridgeshire and Climate and Nature Crisis Caucus Vice-Chair, said:

“At COP30, I’ve seen first-hand how tropical forests like the Amazon can buy us precious time in the rapidly closing window to tackle climate change and nature loss. Now, for the first time, we have a truly game-changing global plan on the table that makes keeping tropical forests standing more valuable than cutting them down or burning them.

“The UK has played a leading role in helping Brazil design this innovative investment fund, the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, which could stop deforestation. It’s not a donation or a grant, it’s a genuine win-win fund that rewards communities for keeping their forests intact while delivering returns to investors. We urge the Government to heed calls from across Parliament to continue our serious commitment to saving forests and back the TFFF.”

Carla Denyer, Green MP for Bristol Central and Climate and Nature Crisis Caucus Vice-Chair, said:

“Tropical forests like the Amazon may feel far removed from people’s everyday lives, but this could not be further from the truth. Often called the lungs of the world, these vital ecosystems draw down and store vast amounts of emissions, and release large amounts of water into the atmosphere, regulating our climate and making the food on our plates possible. The global efforts to protect them at COP30 must be supported by the Government.

“And UK leadership abroad must be matched by action at home. People across Britain want confidence that the food they buy is not wreaking havoc on global forests. That’s why we are calling on the Prime Minister to remove the products that are driving deforestation from our shelves.”
 

The text of the MPs' letter to the Prime Minister follows, or you can see the downloadable PDF at the end of this article.

Dear Prime Minister,

Re: Cross-party letter on protecting the world’s forests after COP30

The destruction of Brazil’s rainforest is felt across the world. The Amazon is not only a cradle of biodiversity, it is the lungs of our planet and is the source of so many things we rely on every day. The Amazon may be far away and yet it regulates weather patterns that affect us here at home; its loss would disrupt rainfall patterns, supply chains and affect our farmers and our own food security. Nevertheless, the Amazon and the world’s remaining tropical forests continue to be lost at an alarming rate.

At COP 30, the global climate summit, in Belem, there has been an important cross-party presence from the UK bearing witness to both the scale and urgency of the challenge and also the opportunities presented by the Brazilian COP Presidency for global, multilateral action on Climate and Nature.

The UK has a strong legacy of international leadership in driving action to protect forests globally. At COP26, the UK united over 100 world leaders behind the commitment to halt and reverse deforestation and other forms of ecosystem degradation by 2030.

More recently, the Government has helped with the design of the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), launched this week under Brazil’s leadership at COP30, which marks an important step towards establishing a coordinated global plan to safeguard the remaining tropical forests.

The TFFF is an innovative finance mechanism that would be one of the biggest multilateral investment funds for nature, quadrupling the investment available for forest protection. It will reward countries that keep forests standing, strengthen local economies, and ensure that communities on the front line of forest protection can thrive.

Crucially, the TFFF is an investment mechanism, not a grant or aid programme, and will primarily mobilise private finance with guaranteed payments for keeping standing forests whilst generating financial returns for investors: a rare opportunity to accelerate action on the climate and nature crises.

To realise these benefits for forests, communities, and the planet, the UK has a key role going forwards in the roll-out of the TFFF, continuing its history of leadership towards meeting the global pledge made at COP26. We understand the difficult fiscal environment around the Budget and welcome recent statements that the Government’s decision not to contribute directly to the Fund right now is more a question of timing, rather than intent.

Therefore, we urge you to reconsider and engage with TFFF partners in these hugely important tropical forest countries and put on the table ways in which the UK can continue to be supportive in future.

The Brazilian COP highlights the importance of genuinely involving and directly benefiting the Indigenous Peoples and local communities who have been stewards of these intact forests and whose livelihoods depend on them. We urge the UK to ensure that the TFFF empowers countries in the Global South to shape their own climate solutions and address that central challenge: helping shift financial incentives so that keeping forests standing becomes more profitable than logging for timber or burning to clear for agriculture.

We also urge you to deliver this alongside an ambitious International Climate Finance budget with a ringfenced commitment to spend one-third of the budget on natural climate solutions. Nature is one of our greatest allies in tackling climate change, and the UK plays a critical role in supporting global efforts to safeguard it.

At the same time, here at home, we must play our part in driving down demand for destroying virgin forests. Despite years of voluntary initiatives, most UK companies still cannot guarantee that their products are free from deforestation. There is little value in funding initiatives to tackle deforestation if we allow imported products which contribute to it. We need products that are the result of illegal deforestation to be removed from our shelves and UK consumers to know that the food on their plate is not contributing to deforestation.

We are so close to achieving this. The powers to make this possible already exist. Schedule 17 of the Environment Act, passed over four years ago but still not implemented, would introduce due diligence regulations for “forest risk commodities,” helping protect habitats for endangered species such as orangutans, leopards, and jaguars from illegal deforestation. We urge the Government to bring the due diligence provisions into force without further delay.

At this pivotal moment, as COP30 takes place in the gateway to the Amazon rainforest, the UK has the opportunity to reaffirm its global leadership in tackling deforestation. By investing in the TFFF, ringfencing one-third of the International Climate Finance budget for nature, and enforcing robust due diligence at home, the Government can demonstrate its serious commitment to protecting the world’s forests, the communities and wildlife that depend on them.

We look forward to your response, and would be happy to meet with you to discuss our letter.

Yours sincerely, on behalf of all signatories,

Pippa Heylings MP
Olivia Blake MP
Blake Stephenson MP
Carla Denyer MP

Signed by: Abtisam Mohamed MP; Adam Dance MP; Adrian Ramsay MP; Alison Bennett MP; Ben Lake MP; Calum Miller MP; Cameron Thomas MP; Caroline Voaden MP; Charlie Maynard MP; Charlotte Cane MP; Chris Hinchliff MP; Claire Young MP; Daisy Cooper MP; Danny Chambers MP; Edward Morello MP; Ellie Chowns MP; Freddie van Mierlo MP; Helen Maguire MP; Helen Morgan MP; Ian Sollom MP; James McClearly MP; Joshua Reynolds MP; Liz Jarvis MP; Manuela Perteghella MP; Martin Wrigley MP; Monica Harding MP; Nadia Whittome MP; Olly Glover MP; Paul Kohler MP; Rachael Maskell MP; Rachel Gilmour MP; Roz Savage MP; Sarah Dyke MP; Sarah Gibson MP; Simon Hoare MP; Simon Opher MP; Steff Aquarone MP; Steve Darling MP; Susan Murray MP; Tom Morrison MP; Vikki Slade MP; Wera Hobhouse MP; Will Forster MP; Zöe Franklin MP; Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville; Baroness Brinton; Baroness Hamwee; Baroness Harris of Richmond; Baroness Humphreys; Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer; Baroness Northover; Baroness Parminter; Baroness Pinnock; Baroness Walmsley; Baroness Willis of Summertown; Earl Russell; Lord German; Lord Goddard of Stockport; Lord Mohammed of Tinsley; Lord Pack; Lord Shipley; Lord Tope; Lord Wrigglesworth