Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz has pledged support for a Brazilian initiative to support the conservation of the world’s endangered forests, at international talks on the edge of the Amazon rainforest ahead of the annual United Nations climate conference, COP30. The initiative, dubbed the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, drew $5.5 billion (€4.7 billion) in pledges, with Norway and France promising to join Brazil and Indonesia in investing. Merz said that Germany would make a “considerable” pledge, but didn’t specify an amount. The fund eventually seeks to leverage investments into $125 billion (€108 billion) that can be used to pay 74 developing countries for every hectare of forest they conserve. Dozens of governments have expressed support for the fund and are engaged in talks to learn more about it, Brazil’s Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said, including China and the United Arab Emirates.