MANY MINDEDUK pulls tens of millions from Congo rainforest conservation
The UK has walked away from Congo rainforest conservation projects worth tens of millions of pounds, according to reporting by Carbon Brief published on 15 July 2026. The abandoned initiatives represent about half of the £200m the UK had pledged for Congo basin conservation, with a target deadline of 2029. The Congo basin is the world's second-largest rainforest and the planet's largest forested carbon sink.
The specifics show the scale of the retreat. The UK's Congo basin forest action programme, launched at COP27 with an original £90m budget, was cut to £18.8m, of which £15m has been spent. The Congo portion of the biodiverse landscapes fund, worth at least £12.3m, was closed two years into a seven-year schedule. As of 2024, the UK had provided £39.8m toward its Congo goal. Going forward, the government dropped ring-fenced amounts for nature and forests from its climate finance pledge for 2026 onward.
For the commons, forest carbon sinks are shared infrastructure against climate change — and pulling funding gates protection for a system that regulates the atmosphere everyone depends on. It also cuts against the Glasgow leaders' declaration to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030, which more than 140 nations backed at COP26.
The government says it met its five-year £11.6bn climate finance target and related sub-goals. Not every project is fully cancelled; some face reduced budgets or narrower geographic scope. Operating difficulties cited include complex political conditions and a military coup in Gabon. Watch whether other donors backfill the gap the UK leaves.
Source: Carbon Brief