MANILA, Philippines -- With trade dominating much of the agenda so far, Canada sought Sunday to bolster its environmental credentials by announcing new funding to help protect tropical forests through a project co-led by Brazil and Norway. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that Canada will contribute up to $560 million over four years to the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), a new international fund aimed at protecting tropical forests and biodiversity. The pledge was made during a meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Manila. The fund, co-led by Brazil and Norway, is designed to attract public and private investment to support forest conservation in more than 70 countries. The pledge comes as Carney faces criticism from some environmental groups after missing the last two UN climate summits, including COP31 in Antalya, Turkiye, this month and COP30 in Brazil last year, where the fund was unveiled. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the facility aims to protect more than one billion hectares of tropical forest annually through conservation payments tied to verified results. At least 20 per cent of those payments will go to Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Ottawa said the contribution is part of Canada’s broader commitment to provide more than $13 billion in international climate financing to developing countries by 2031. The TFFF is seeking $35 billion in government and institutional backing to leverage up to $140 billion in private investment for long-term conservation efforts. Earlier Sunday, International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu expressed optimism about expanding trade with China as Carney prepared to travel there for the APEC summit and a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “I just came from China about a week ago where we landed a two-year extension on our joint arrangement that unlocked about $7 billion of more agriculture opportunities,” said Sidhu. “I think about beef, I think canola, I about other industries like seafood that we helped unlock and secured that access for two more years.”
